Springwood Middle School students are undertaking a school-wide bottle drive this Saturday to raise money for Mayan Families Canada.

The local group was founded by Leigh Pawliuk and her mother Robin, a teacher at the school, after several trips to Guatemala, where they saw the huge need for basic necessities among the indigenous Mayan families.

They have concentrated their humanitarian efforts in rural communities in the Lake Atitlan area, where they have been hand delivering donated items for over five years.

Volunteers with the group travel to Guatemala every year taking suitcases full of useful items like toiletries, school supplies, toys, shoes, clothes and various gifts.

On previous trips they have done things like handing out chickens, installing cook stoves, undertaking home repairs and rebuilds, sponsoring children to go to school and building a women’s centre.

Various schools around the district have taken part in raising money or gathering goods to send with the group to help families in Central America. Last spring for example students and staff at Nanoose Elementary raised money through their “wall of grain,” with paper sacks representing the things they gave up in their personal lives and the value they donated to the project instead.

To save the money to donate, students reported giving things up like trips to McDonalds, Tim Hortons or the video store or their allowance.

It was the fifth consecutive year the school took part and they raised over $600 plus toys and necessities to send with Robin and Leigh on their annual trip.

The bottle drive this Saturday starts at the Parksville Bottle Depot at 9 a.m. with students fanning out to all areas. 

The money from this effort will help sponsor students to go to school in Guatemala and provide food for them.

For more on the local group check www.mayanfamiliescanada.org. For more on Mayan Families, based in Panajachel, Guatemala check www.mayanfamilies.org and keep your clean empty bottles handy for the Springwood students coming to your neighbourhood tomorrow.