Montreal, May 7, 2008 - Caring for others makes you grow! That was the lesson learned by 10,500 children at 260 primary schools who took part in the 9th annual Caring for Others School Project. They were visited by a host of volunteers and community workers from Centraide supported agencies who spoke to them about their personal experience of caring for others. This vast mobilization was organized by the 18 Centraides of Quebec and the community agencies they support with the aim of awakening Grade 4 pupils to the values of volunteering and community service.

In Montreal, about 1,000 children at 19 schools took part in the project. The official launch was held at PROMIS, a community agency in Côte-des-Neiges, where the young students participated in volunteer activities for the benefit of newly arrived immigrants and met with teenage volunteers.

Studies show that childhood experience of volunteering increases the likelihood of participating in volunteer work as an adult.* With the Caring for Others School Project, Centraide wants to give children the opportunity to discover the pleasure of giving, without expecting or asking for anything in return, in order to groom them as the volunteers of tomorrow. During the past few weeks, participating students familiarized themselves with the community movement and the role of volunteers by completing a booklet containing exercises and learning games, watching a video clip on volunteering and singing the "caring for others" theme song. Today's class visit by a volunteer or community worker was the high point of the activity.

"We must develop children's confidence in their ability to make a difference," said Michèle Thibodeau-DeGuire, president and executive director of Centraide of Greater Montreal. "The more we invest in kids during early childhood, the greater their chances of growing into responsible and caring individuals. That's why we introduce young children to the different ways of helping others and to the pleasure of showing you care: one day, we hope to reap what we have sown! We thank the teachers for supporting us by informing their students about volunteering, and by welcoming to their classroom an agency spokesperson who can provide the kids with a model of social involvement."

*Source: Canadian Centre for Philanthropy et al., "Caring Canadians, Involved Canadians: Highlights from the 2000 National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating", August 2001.