The residents and staff at the Breton House. a shelter and substance addiction recovery home for women in Sault Ste. Marie, were pleasantly surprised and thankful for the early dose of Christmas joy that was delivered to them late last week.

The two, three and four year old students at nearby Meadow Park Montessori School had been busy since mid-November in planning their first ever holiday charity/donation drive. In an effort to help the young students understand the true meaning of giving during the holiday season, head directress Tricia Harding had been working closely with the children and their parents to raise donations for families in need.

One of the primary foundations of a Montessori program is to keep an active involvement in the local community. The students and teachers chose to support the Breton House because of its close proximity to their school and because many of the residents and visitors to the home had children the same age as the students at the school.

On the morning of Friday December 12th, 2008 the students loaded over 70 wrapped presents and boxed their collected donations onto toboggans and hand delivered the food, books, games, clothing, jewelry and bath products, along with the

The lights remained off inside Meadow Park Montessori School and the morning went on as usual before lessons were taken outdoors today and the three and four year-old students learned the significance of protecting and appreciating the environment that surrounds them. In celebration of Earth Day, the students discussed energy conservation, the importance of recycling and placing litter in its proper place and the benefits of composting.

With their newfound knowledge the students eagerly set out to make their environment a better place by going out into the neighbourhood and cleaning up discarded bottles, cans, coffee cups, paper containers, etc.

Their hard work, time and effort filled several garbage bags with litter and for the children, keeping the Earth clean was an enjoyable experience and hardly felt like work at all.

With their neighbourhood looking a bit cleaner, the students focused their Earth Day attention to beautifying their school yard by maintaining the trees and gardens and preparing for the arrival of their tulips with some water, love and care.

On a side note, some of the parents elected to walk their children to school before continuing on to work without their vehicle in their effort to support Earth Day.