A New Crew of Garden Buddies

The first unofficial Garden Buddy session was on a fitting day as it was the first day of Fall!  Our study of the day was seeds - their adaptations for survival as a species, the great diversity found in seeds, seed dispersal methods, and the basic structure of seeds.  We enjoyed finding seeds in our gardens and had a little fun playing with our seeds (who doesn’t enjoy playing with helicopter maple seeds!?)

Another of our recent experiences had us visiting Pacific Spirit Park and the Camosun Bog!  It truly was a magical day exploring, learning, touching, smelling and listening to God’s beautiful creation. We started our day learning about the “web of life” and how intricately everything is connected to each other in the forest ecosystem.  

Our main outdoor tasks in our first sessions included dismantling last year’s trellises, removing all garden refuse and chopping it to small bits to add to the compost.  We even discovered that some compost soil was ready to add to our garden beds.

Walkathon funds support schools in Vietnam & Haiti

Every year, we send some of our Walkathon money to help schools in Haiti and Vietnam. These photos show children from Ling La Parish in the diocese of Kontum in Vietnam.  

These children are extremely poor and are unable to go to school because their families cannot afford it.  The pastor of the parish works together with the sisters to organize an education program, and this past summer, 120 children from Grade 1 to Grade 7 attended.  With the money we sent them last year, they were able to buy books, pencils, and some food for lunch for the students.  Father Nguyen Minh Hoang, the pastor, had this to say:  “On behalf of the poor in the parish and the students, we would like to thank you, I.C. School, for your generosity. May God bless you and your school.”