Luxton kids make very special valentines

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This article was published 23/02/2015 (4054 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Deer Lodge Centre residents recently received a little love from Luxton School.

With help from their teachers Robert Schulz and Dorothy Roberts, students from Luxton’s Learning Assistance Centre (LAC) hand crafted valentines for veterans, which Schulz then delivered to Deer Lodge residents on Feb. 13.

Schulz said the project started after he received an email regarding Valentines for Vets, a Veterans Affairs Canada initiative.

“When I investigated I found out they (the valentines) were going to a veteran’s hospital in Alberta, and we’ve been really stressing in this classroom about working with the local community as much as we can,” Schulz said.

“I have a neighbour Mr. Bill Neil who used to be the head of prosthetics in Manitoba and is a war veteran himself. He’s missing a limb. So, I brought the valentines over to him in hopes he would pass them out to veterans, but he suggested I go to Deer Lodge.”

The valentines are composed of clay art and an acrostic poem created by the children. Schulz said the Deer Lodge residents, some of them veterans, were delighted with their valentines.

Grade 6 student Lucas Pistun and Grade 5 student Cayden Laithlin, who are both LAC students, said they are honoured that the Deer Lodge residents appreciated the valentines.

“It makes me feel glad and proud that we did something to give back to the people who risked their lives for us,” said Pistun, 11.

“My teacher said sometimes when people come back (from war) they go to the hospital because they lost their leg or arm, and my teacher said sometimes they don’t get the respect they deserve.”

“When those people saw (the valentines) they were happy that we made these for them and that Mr. Schulz took the time to listen to them,” said Laithlin, 10.

According to the Winnipeg School Division’s website, Learning Assistance Centres are a WSD initiative where Grade 1 to 12 students who have “emotional or behavioral disorders” are put into low-enrolment classes where they can access “intensive support and intervention.”

Luxton’s LAC students, a group of boys in Grades 4 to 6, start every morning with a communal breakfast, except Tuesdays when at WRENCH fixing bicycles. They also spend time in the school’s Heart and Sole room, letting off a little steam on Luxton’s exercise equipment.

Schulz said initiatives like the valentines project are a great way for these students, kids who need a little extra attention, to interact with the community.

“We’ve made ourselves these pen pals, so to speak,” Schulz said. “The boys don’t realize it yet but with some of their writing exercises in the near future they’re going to make buddies of these people in Deer Lodge, writing things throughout the year and hopefully developing a relationship.”