Constable Christmas Gets Help From Rosser Students

By: Nancy Drad

Several years ago Constable Al Pasquini of the Headingley Detachment, aka Constable Christmas, came to Rosser School to solicit our help collecting items for Christmas Hampers that he planned to deliver to families within our area. Every year since, the students and staff at Rosser Elementary School have collected non-perishable food items, gifts, and spare change to assist Constable Christmas in this worthwhile effort.

Back then we were the only school that he approached. Today, Constable Christmas solicits help from several schools in order to meet the needs of the families in the Interlake. This year was the first year that we established a Christmas Hamper Committee to oversee the collection process. Rosser School has 63 students from kindergarten to grade 4. Five students from the grade four class volunteered to be a part of the Christmas Hamper Committee. They met during several lunch hours and developed a plan. They decided to write letters to their own dentists to collect toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss. They wrote a letter that appeared in the School Newsletter explaining to parents what they were going to do and why.

They also created a Christmas Hamper Collection Calendar that was sent home with each student showing the different items they were going to collect and on what day of the month they would collect them. Each morning at assembly they gathered the items and made announcements to the school regarding the next collection. At the end of the 12 day collection period they sorted the items and counted them. They collected over 540 items and raised $67.00 in spare change.

Constable Christmas came to school on December 16th to take the items to his Hamper Assemblers. He was once again very impressed with the items that the students had collected and donated. This has become a Christmas Tradition at Rosser School. The students and staff know that each year there are people who need our help especially at Christmas time. It also teaches our students that it’s important to give…that’s the best gift of all.

At Rosser School our motto is “Home of the Goodness Gorillas…random acts of kindness performed.” Students have clearly demonstrated that they understand the motto.

When asked, “Why did you volunteer to be on the Christmas Hamper Committee?” this is what some of the students said:

“Because, I wanted to help other people, the less fortunate.”
“I thought it would be cool and I’m in grade four and we’re the head of the school and it’s good.”
“Because I wanted to make other people happy and to have more food to eat and to have more toys to play with instead of sitting on the streets with nothing.”
“Because I wanted other people to be happy on Christmas and get stuff like gifts and presents.”
“To help other children; to make other children have a happy life.”