RISING ABOVE COVID-19: MANS and Its Friends Response

Submitted by Lynn McDowell, Director of Planned Giving | Philanthropy Alberta Conference

No one saw how COVID-19 would change everyday life. Certainly, no one foresaw the courage, creativity, and heroism that everyday people would demonstrate.

Gary Smith worked several hours on this project to provide students with an electronic device so they can continue their studies.

Nowhere was this more evident than when Jamie Smith drove two hours by herself in 40-below weather to deliver computers so students of Mamawi Atosketan Native School (MANS) could continue classes at home.

“She really didn’t want to get her picture taken because she said her husband did all the work refurbishing them,” said Principal Gail Wilton, the only person at the school after the province mandated that all Alberta schools close their doors and find a way to deliver education electronically for the rest of the year. The challenge was compounded by the lack of computers in the homes of many students and, in some cases, the complete absence of Internet services.

Gary Smith worked several hours on this project to provide students with an electronic device so they can continue their studies.

“Jamie and her husband definitely went above and beyond what we could have expected by donating three laptops and a tablet,” explained Wilton. “As we are trying to get our students transitioned into an online method of education, this particular donation could not have come at a better time. Their generosity is greatly appreciated.” Smith, who manages External Affairs Medical Spa in St. Albert, in addition to mothering two sons adopted from the foster system, knows how important school and teacher contact had been for the kids in her care. She’d been impressed not only during her visits to MANS, but also by the reports given by her boss, Bridge Campaign honorary chair Larry Wilkins, and his ongoing dedication to the work Jamie Smith dropping off of MANS. Jamie and her husband, who picks the refurbished items at MANS. up and refurbishes used computers, felt that if they could help kids and teachers who wanted to keep going despite COVID-19, it would be worth the long drive in bitter cold.

The sacrifice was not lost on Principal Wilton. “This is a time in our world where everyone is struggling with COVID-19 and how to best take care of themselves and their families,” she observed. Yet in the midst of all that, the St. Albert couple was more than happy to help in any way that was needed. Four families now had access to classes!

Jamie Smith dropping off the refurbished items at MANS.

For the teachers, the new challenges were met with prayer, much peer support, and great creativity. Weekly staff meetings now became daily events of sharing and encouragement. Despite the hands-on nature of building construction, for example, the class that was to start days after the physical shut down went ahead online, with CTS teacher and high school vice principal Mike Willing turning into both video producer and “star” of his own broadcast. Students happily tuned in to watch Willing, a one-man construction “crew,” going through the steps of building a mini-barn that will be the centre of MANS’ new animal husbandry venture when students physically return. COVID-19 not only brought staff closer together in new ways; it also brought an opportunity for MANS, as a representative of Adventist Education, to demonstrate that it cares for the Maskwacis community as a whole. MANS was invited to contribute to a multi-school effort to provide critical food to the most vulnerable after Maskwacis was declared a state-of-emergency area, and ADRA came through with a grant that allowed MANS to contribute and model the biblical values they teach kids every day.

By working together (the meaning of “Mamawi Atosketan” in Cree), MANS staff, ADRA, and friends like the Smiths are making the difficult COVID experience a time when kindness, selfless actions, and reliance on our heavenly Father can make an impact that will not be soon forgotten.