Mobilization of LCC Community Raises >$15K for Haiti!

Posted on January 22, 2010 by admin

On January 20, the LCC community demonstrated a deep and meaningful commitment to the Haiti crisis relief effort by raising funds for the Red Cross. While the students enjoyed a day of free dress, it also reminded everyone of our good fortune and the importance of helping others.

Collectively, the students, staff and parents raised an amazing total that exceeds $15,000! Thank you to the 10 LCC families who matched the donations raised by their children’s classes. An additional $3,300 was donated through the generosity of the parent matching initiative.

The students certainly rose to the occasion as LCC stories have emerged of touching generosity. One grade 5 boy physically broke open his piggy bank to donate what he could on a very personal level. Student driven fundraising initiatives will continue and we will keep you posted of these efforts.

We extend our deepest sympathy, support and greatest hope to the people of Haiti.

Non Nobis Solum

— Christopher Shannon, Headmaster

Mackay Center & LCC: Bonding @ Camp

Posted on December 10, 2009 by admin

MackayCenter The journey began bright and early on Monday, November 9, 2009. Giving up our ped. day sleep in, our team—comprised of Greg Sigler, Noah Schouela, Elsa Schlemm, Chloe Collier, Tiffany Chamandy, Lauren Piccoli, Alysha Fedele and Blair Hardiman—arrived at the Mackay Center to pack up the bus and get the ball rolling. Once organized, we headed to the handicap-friendly Camp Massawippi in the Eastern Townships. From that moment on the fun did not stop. We were kept busy by the kids’ desire to remain active, bond with their new friends and experience nature to its fullest.

The activities that completed this expedition included multiple nature walks around the campsite and surrounding community, picking out our “Charlie Brown” Christmas tree and many diverse arts activities that we planned ourselves before our departure.

The weather was exceptional and although it was 15C outside, the lake was much, much colder! The fun continued indoors as well. The kids made picture frames around stunning dried leaves, painted pumpkins, blended smoothies, and even got to paint their own faces.

The Mackay kids, who were for the most part severely physically and mentally disabled, taught us so much about ourselves and our ability to help and make a difference. Perhaps this trip, although planned for the MacKay kids, touched and changed us—the forever busy and distracted LCC crowd—to be new people.
— Noah Schouela ’10 & Greg Sigler ’10

The True Meaning of Non Nobis Solum

Posted on October 29, 2009 by admin

FarhaFoundation Non nobis solum … As a newcomer to the LCC community, a few short weeks ago those words were nothing but latin to me.

On the 20th September, myself and several of my Pre-University classmates took part in a walk for the Farha Foundation to raise money for the prevention and treatment of AIDS; a vicious incurable disease, sweeping through Africa and many parts of the developed word.

The fight against AIDS has always been of interest to me. As an incurable disease that affects the entire world, it represents, in my opinion, one of the greatest challenges that mankind has to face in the modern day.

The day was sunny, and the walk was calm and pleasant. I was surprised to find that many of my Grade 12 ‘fellows’ had already completed their obligatory community service hours, going as much as 25 hours above the call of duty.

It occurred to me at that point that the value of mandatory community service is not in the immediate value it has for society, but in the values it promotes in the individual. To give a student a sense that it is important to help others for no direct personal gain is not only good for his/her social development, but also good for society as a whole in the long term, as the amount that he/she will eventually contribute to society will far dwarf the 20 hours of service spent over one year. By pushing students to help others, it seemed to me more that LCC was encouraging them to help themselves.

Leon Dunkley-Clark (Pre-U ’10)

Inspired to Make a Difference

Posted on September 17, 2009 by admin

YPIPhoto When I first heard about the Youth Philanthropy Initiative, I must admit that I thought it would just be some more work that I simply would not have enough time for. I was not really looking forward to it. However, I soon realized that this was an extremely rewarding experience in which I had the opportunity to learn about small charities in Montreal.

We first decided on the Native Women’s Shelter as our charity because we were very impressed with the way the charity helped a small and often overlooked minority. We felt like they could seriously benefit from the grand prize of $5,000. We met with some of the workers at the shelter and even one of the women benefitting from their services. She said that the shelter had changed her life when she managed to get away from her old existence and start anew. She had been with, as she put it, a “bad man” and had been using many drugs. When we were introduced to her, she had been clean for eight months and was looking to move out on her own in the near future. This woman greatly inspired us when it came time to create our presentation.

Though in the end we came second in the YPI competition, we knew we still wanted to help the shelter in some way. Therefore, we organized a bake sale in which we enlisted the help of many people in our grade and raised $400 in support of the organization. There was also a free dress day at school in which everyone brought in one item of clothing. The school did not know what to do with them, so we offered to take all the garments off their hands and bring them to the shelter. The workers at the shelter were overjoyed and we felt like, however small, we had made a difference. Read about LCC in the NWS newsletter.

—Liane Bernstein ’09

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