Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

VANCOUVER
A trip to Vancouver last month showed a group of seven students some of the best and worst places their choices could take them.

Participants in the second year of the Keepers Program stand outside of a food bank in Vancouver where they volunteered during a trip to the city. The students include: back row, from left, Melvin Vital, Gussy Mandeville, Julia Gargan, Gerald Norn, and Courtney Giroux; front row, from left, Joseph Antoine and Lloyd Lafferty. - photo courtesy of Chelsea Doyle

The trip was part of the second year of the Keepers Program. The three-year program run by Deh Gah School promotes cultural and environmental stewardship and leadership among students.

Participants focus on the North in their first year, Canada in their second and the world in their third year. One of the primary focuses of this year's trip was volunteering, said Margaret Thom, Deh Gah School's community counsellor, who accompanied the students along with Chief Wayne Sabourin of Deh Gah Got'ie First Nation.

The first volunteering opportunity on the trip, which lasted from Feb. 16 to 25, was at the Lookout Society on East Hastings Street in Vancouver. The society is like a living room where people can come in, sit and play cards, said Thom. It is also a donation centre. Most of the society's clientele are from the streets and some have mental health challenges.

Blankets and clothing

The seven students who volunteered for the society ranged in age from 16 to 18, and included one from Hay River, three from Fort Resolution, one from Nahanni Butte and two from Fort Providence. At the society, they sorted donations including blankets and clothing.

"The students were very, very good," said Thom. "The students just dove right in there."

The group also volunteered at the Surrey Urban Mission where they served approximately 200 people supper and cleaned tables. The mission was different than the society because its clientele was from the surrounding neighbourhood, said Thom.

People primarily come to the mission to eat but some stop in just for the company and not because they can't afford food, she said.

"Their doors are open to everyone," said Thom.

The mission was the place that Melvin Vital, 16, enjoyed volunteering the most.

"When I handed out the food, sometimes we'd chat," he said.

Vital, who's from Nahanni Butte, said he liked learning a bit about the people he was serving. Vital said being on the trip made him think about the effects of drug use.

"You could see what drugs did to their lives," he said.

The students also volunteered at the Quest Food Exchange, a food bank where they sorted donations.

The participants began seeing the more positive paths their lives could take when they volunteered at the Talking Stick Festival, which celebrates aboriginal performance and art. The male students helped set up one of the festival's venues and the female students served snacks to guests. Both groups were able to watch aboriginal performers, storytellers, dancers and drummers.

The students ended the trip with another highlight by attending a luncheon for recipients of the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards. That night, students attended the awards ceremony.

"It was exciting for them," said Thom.

Vital said he liked the luncheon and having the chance to speak to some of the award winners. Vital met an aboriginal doctor as well as a business person who owns a cattle ranch.

"It was pretty awesome," he said.

Thom said the trip gave the students a chance to see both sides of where their decisions can take them, either to places like Vancouver's east side or to awards banquets.

"It was just a real eye opener for a lot of them," she said.

During the trip the students also visited Vancouver Island University and Capilano University as well as Science World.

The next Keepers trip will be for five third-year participants who are attending the Gathering Our Voices 2012 conference in Nanaimo, B.C., from March 19 to 24.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.