Andrew Livingstone photo
Spiro Athanasoulis, a Grade 6 student at Palgrave Public School, donated a cheque for $210 to Sleeping Children Around the World, to help provide bed kits for children in developing countries. Seen with him here is former NHLer and head of the organization, Dave Dryden.
Spiro Athanasoulis, a Grade 6 student at Palgrave Public School, donated a cheque for $210 to Sleeping Children Around the World, to help provide bed kits for children in developing countries. Seen with him here is former NHLer and head of the organization, Dave Dryden.
By Andrew Livingstone, Enterprise Staff
When Spiro Athanasoulis handed over a cheque for $210 to Dave Dryden, son of Sleeping Children Around the World founder Murray Dryden, he sat down on a long bench with a big grin on his face.
“It’s really neat when kids do this kind of thing,” he said of Athanasoulis selfless act.
The Grade 6 student at Palgrave Public School asked his friends to donate money to the non-profit organization at his birthday party instead of bringing gifts.
“I wanted to do something because a lot of people sleep in their warm beds and I want to help people who don’t get to do that,” Athanasoulis said. “It’s important.”
Helen, Spiro’s mother, couldn’t be happier with the generosity and selflessness her son has shown.
“I said to him, maybe this year why not do something that benefits someone who doesn’t have as much and he was all for it,” she said. “He’s a great kid.”
And while Spiro presented his own cheque, the entire student and teacher population donated 119 bed kits to the organization. The bed kits are collected across the country and sent to people in countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Philippines and Sri Lanka, as planned this year.
According to Dave Dryden, the plans are to deliver more than 27,000 beds to those four countries alone.
The Rotary Club of Palgrave is giving $2,100 to the organization, matching the donations collected by students at the school. It’s the 21st year the school and the Rotary Club have been involved in the project, which has collected over 1.1 million bed kits since its inception in 1970.
“It’s children, like yourselves, helping other children,” said Wayne Cowell of Palgrave Rotary. “It’s the great thing about Sleeping Children.”
Heather Patterson, one of the parent volunteers who helped coordinate the project this year, said it’s an important part of the Palgrave philosophy of helping others.
“It teaches them to share and help other children,” she said. “It’s important for them to know not everyone is well-off like we are.”
And for former NHLer Dave Dryden, he characterizes the 2,200 bed kits the school has donated in over two decades – each individual kit – as special.
“There are 2,000 or more kids who have had magic moments, just like I did with Johnny (Bauer) when we give out those bed kits,” he told the packed gymnasium of his first game in the NHL and the famed Toronto Maple Leaf goalie welcoming him to the league at the end of the game. “It’s so important to them.”
