Broughton Island (Mar 31/03) - After contributing to the Foster Parent Plan since 1974, Phil Riggs decided to get more people involved.

A month ago during a staff meeting, Riggs, a co-principal of Inuksuit School, asked his peers what they thought about the school adopting a foster child through the Foster Parents Plan of Canada.

"They thought it was a good idea so we filled out the application and got things started," explained Riggs.

The staff and students at Inuksuit school adopted an 11-year-old child, Estenia-Maloudie Jean-Baptist from Haiti. They will be in contact with her every month through letters and will raise $31 each month to help support her.

To inform students about Estenia-Maloudie and her adoption, teachers have made photocopies of her picture and prepared lessons.

Co-principal and kindergarten/Grade 1 teacher Miali Aliqatuqtuq said it's important to explain the adoption to all the students.

"One of my students was already thinking that we were going to be bringing up this girl, so I'm going to have to do a lot of explaining," she said.

Aliqatuqtuq will be going over Estenia-Maloudie's story -- her age, her family and where she is from -- in simple terms. She will use a map to show the kids where Haiti is and explain that the school will collect money to buy her food, medicine, clothing and maybe even an education.

"I think it will be something good that the kids can be proud of. We're going to draw some pictures, take some pictures of our community and send them to her. We'll also be expecting to hear from her so we can get to now her on a more personal basis," said Aliqatuqtuq.

Around the 20th day of each month, a collection will be taken at Inuksuit school to meet the $31 contribution.

"The idea is really to make the students aware of the needs people have in different countries around the world," said Riggs.