In 2006, Westwood Community High School began a school pride building activity called ‘Spirit Day’. The goal of this day was to increase the student’s connection with the school and grow our community. Students were split into four teams; yellow, green, blue, and red then competed in events that ranged from tug-of-war to cardboard boat races in the pool. The event was a huge success but students and staff alike felt there was something missing, we could do more! It was decided that a charitable event needed to be added to the festivities.

In 2007, the students competed once again in a variety of activities, including a challenge to collect money and food items for our local food bank. Students raised well over 1000 food items plus $500. A fun day was had by the students and the excitement created by the day was amazing. Seeing a desire to do more, a group of dedicated teachers decided to look into ways to help those outside of our community as well. The group searched for ways to help those that had little chance to help themselves. The group chose to present ‘A Better World’, an Alberta non-profit organization, to the students and see if they liked the idea of working with them.

We arranged a presentation by a teacher from another school about how a partnership with ‘A Better World’ worked for them. Our students were very impressed and wanted to start our own project. The Spirit of Harambee was started to be the umbrella that all of our fundraising efforts fall under.

Ikonge was the village that was selected to be our partner city in Kenya. We have dubbed this part of Spirit of Harambee: ‘Project Kenya’ and to date have raised almost $73, 000 and our school in Ikonge is already built. ‘Project Kenya’ continues as we look to make Ikonge a self sustaining village before moving on to a new community elsewhere in the world.

From supporting the United Way, SPCA, Food Bank, Cuts for Cancer, Pink Ribbon Run for the Cure, ‘Project Kenya’ and the many other facets of the Spirit of Harambee, it is our hope that if one person lives a better life due to our help, all the money raised and time put in will be well worth it.
 
In the last two years, the school has raised in excess of $150,000 for local and world charitable organizations!!