Spreading the Joy Overseas this Holiday season: Tins for Soldiers
by Marilyn Santucci
For the past four years, students at John Rennie High School have been assembling care packages for Canadian soldiers overseas.
The Tins for Soldiers project, led by JRHS teacher Matrona Mavrakis, was inspired by a former student’s history project. In the project, the student highlighted how soldiers during World War I received tins filled with gifts during the holiday season. Mavrakis found the idea inspiring and decided to involve her students in a similar initiative. The impact of their efforts turned out to be far more meaningful than anyone had anticipated.
“What we did was we prepare these little tins for soldiers and filled them up with goodies that remind them of home. We sent them off during the holidays and started to receive messages from soldiers that received them and they were so thankful and their messages were filled with gratitude. And since then, we decided to make this a tradition,” said Matrona Mavrakis.
This year, 134 grade 11 students have prepared 100 tins for soldiers. The students oversaw filling the tins, writing meaningful notes, packing the tins, and sending them off. The goal is that these tins will find their way oversees to soldiers who can’t be home for the holidays.
“We collectively make these tins as a class filled with goodies for soldiers that we plan to send them, and we hope they have a merry Christmas and that these tins reach them well,” said grade 11 students Maddy Taylor, Rylee Lanni and Paulina Diakoumakos collectively.
The school collaborates with Beverly Landry, a LBPSB Cultural and Community Animator, who connects with organizations and identifies groups of soldiers to receive the tins. In recent years, the tins have been sent to soldiers stationed in Latvia.
This project holds deep significance for the students, helping them gain a greater appreciation for the sacrifices soldiers make to protect our freedom.
“It feels amazing to help out the soldiers that are fighting for our safety ,” said Dylan Stanimir, a grade 11 students.
