After researching non-profits and charities both near and far, grade three students at the Minnewasta School in Morden have chosen the Pembina Valley Humane Society (PVHS) as the recipient of their annual fundraiser. 

Grade 3 teacher Renee Klasssen says the students relied on two fundraising methods. 

"One was by cookie sales. Kids brought in cookies and we sold them for twenty-five cents a cookie. As well, lots of the kids did extra jobs at homes for moms and dads, which is something we had started during COVID because of not being able to do other fundraisers. There was a little bit of extra cash from milk sales from last year that was thrown into the pot too. And wow - $367! It's a lot of money for roughly thirty-two kids to have raised. Pretty proud of them. It's great when they pick a local charity and they can celebrate."

Alesha Unrau, Shelter Manager at PVHS, says not only is it a great honor but it's also good to get the community's young people more involved in the Society's mission.

"They were able to raise a good substantial amount of money, for their age especially. For me personally, this [has been] a passion of mine from a young age. It's nice to see that there are kids even in today's society that have that same passion, that care and want to educate themselves a little bit more as well as even their parents or siblings, that they can take a little bit more information home and spread the word."

The research process has helped students learn about local organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and the Morden Foundation, how they raise funds and put those funds to use.  

"Sometimes who they've chosen as an organization has been harder to be excited about and celebrate," explains Klassen. "We have one time done the World Wildlife Federation. We didn't do a Zoom meeting or anything, we just sent a cheque."

Klassen points that PVHS is popular because, of course, these are grade threes and they love animals. 

As a reward for their hard work, the students had the chance to meet Sprout, a young furry four-legged ambassador from the Society.