Teaching young students in grades one through three about homelessness can be a challenge.

But Melanie Giguere of Etoiles-du-Nord school in Red Lake, Ont., accepted the challenge and has now been honoured by the Provincial Recognition Tour. It is organized by Ontario's eight French-language Catholic school boards to recognize 18 of their teachers across the province.

"I got the kids involved, but it was their interest. So, they were referring to the homeless shelter, they were making rude assumptions, I guess stereotyping about the homeless," said Giguere.

"I told the students that these people are human, and they have feelings as well. That's when I contacted Jana-Lee [at the Red Lake Emergency Shelter] because she was more experienced and knew more about the needs that the shelter had."

Giguere said the students determined warm clothing would be a priority for those who use the shelter, but were hesitant to just hand out mittens and socks.

"They prepared a bunch of baggies, and put scarves, mittens, warm socks and they put them in plastic bags so they would be protected from the weather, and then wrote a poem inside in both French and English telling them this is a gift for whomever is in need, to help them keep warm throughout the winter months. They pinned them on the posts downtown, just everywhere."

Giguere said it was incredible to see how the students reacted once they were able to put a face on homelessness in their northern Ontario community.

They might just be kids, but they have huge hearts, and you can learn so much from just listening to your kids, your students. It's amazing. - Melanie Giguere

She said the concept of placing needed clothing on lamp posts in the downtown area was replicated by other community groups, and shows the concept created by the six through 10-year-olds resonated with the whole town.

"There was a countdown going on, definitely. The kids were coming, 'Oh madame, that bag was taken off. Oh madame, that's gone. Oh, there's still one there. Oh, that one's been there for a couple days now.' So, they were very anxious. I know some parents were driving their kids around town."

"They were supervising those bags quite a bit."

Other community projects included planting a garden with the homeless shelter.

GIguere said the students are interested in continuing to help the homeless population.

"They might just be kids, but they have huge hearts, and you can learn so much from just listening to your kids, your students. It's amazing."