Financial Planning Students, Staff Raise $1,250 for Children's Aid

Some underprivileged children in London will be getting gifts this Christmas thanks to the efforts of  Fanshawe College Financial Planning Services students and staff.

Instructor Sandy Lochead said students in two second-year classes were given an opportunity to support a charity and they selected the Children's Aid Society (CAS).

"The main thing is they wanted to buy toys for children," Lochead said. "Our original plan was to adopt a family but the Children's Aid doesn't do that any more. What they request is toys and cash."

The students - about 35 in each class - kicked in close to $350. Lochead and instructors Lawrence Lynch and Bruce Hammond kicked in contributions that swelled the total to $1,250. Of that, $900 was used to buy toys and $350 was donated in cash.

The shopping trip, by Lochead, her 10-year-old son and three students, was scheduled to follow the last exam on December 11.

Their task was to "use our best judgment" in buying stocking stuffers and a few bigger toys as well as things for teens such as CDs.

This is Lochead's first year teaching full-time at the College and she said she wanted the community to hear about the generosity of students, especially Fanshawe students.

"Students I teach are wonderful people; they're generous people, they're smart, they work hard," she said. "There's a lot of really great kids and people underestimate them."

Lochead said it is fitting that the gift comes from Financial Planning Services students because they will end up working in the banking and brokerage industries which, she said, "are generous industries. They give lots of money to charities."