Four Grade 10 students from Woodlands Secondary School will be donating $5,000 to the Crisis Pregnancy Centre of Nanaimo this week, thanks to the Toskan Foundation's Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) program.

The foundation has designed a series of lessons that encourage students to learn about problems facing their community and any local charities that are working to help solve them. After the initial general research, each participating class is broken into teams that choose a charity, research it in detail, including an on-site visit if at all possible,and finally prepare and deliver a formal request for funding to their classmates.

The top four proposals are then selected to be presented in front of an independent panel of judges. The team with the most effective presentation wins $5,000 from the Toscan Foundation to be donated to their chosen charity. To date the foundation has donated over $775,000 through the project.

Vice Principal, Kathy Barber, brought the YPI program to Woodlands. Andrea Berkey was the teacher in charge.

I was fortunate enough to be asked to be one of the final judges and once again I marvelled at the quality of students our high schools are producing.

The winning team, Carolyn Edgeworth, Mikaela Hardy, Megan Jones and Morganne Franssen spoke powerfully on behalf of the Crisis Pregnancy Centre of Nanaimo.

Although all four teams presented well, the judges agreed that this team had the strongest general presentation skills,the strongest emotional attachment to their charity, and the best "ask", a final strong, pithy statement explaining why people should support their cause.

None of the team members had heard of the Crisis Pregnancy Centre of Nanaimo before they began working on this project,but now that they have, they want to do what they can to promote it because they feel it is an often-needed and little known service in our community.

Initially they would like you to know that the centre has two 24-hour Helplines at 714-2191 and toll-free at 1-866-714-2191.

The first service offered is an accurate, quality pregnancy test, although they strongly encourage clients to have a doctor confirm these results.

All services, including the pregnancy test, are absolutely free.

The charities mission statement will do a much better job than I to describe what they do and why they do it.

"The Crisis Pregnancy Centre of Nanaimo is a registered non-profit charity, providing free, non-biased, non-judgmental education, and practical, emotional and spiritual support to women and men in a crisis pregnancy situation, through peer-counselling. We provide free confidential pregnancy tests, practical help with maternity and baby clothes and equipment, and post-abortion peer counselling to those in need.

The centre's peer counselling service includes a non-biased ear to help explore options during this important time in either a teenager's or adult's life, and includes information on parenting, adoption, and abortion.

These trained counsellors do not force any points of view on their clients. If a client chooses, they will help them talk with their partner and their parents. They will also refer clients to professional counselling, medical care,and other community services.

Should pregnant clients choose to have and keep their babies, the centre also provides practical help with maternity clothes, baby clothes and supplies.

Once again their 24-Hour Helpline numbers are 714-2191 and toll-free at 1-866-714-2191

Finally I want to pay tribute to the Toskan Foundation, and its three directors Julie Toskan-Casale, Victor Casale, and Frank Toskan, founders of MAC Cosmetics.

Since 2001 their Youth and Philanthropy Initiate has grown to include over 70 schools in Ontario and BC and their goal is grow into all Canadian provinces. Through this program, as well as supporting small local social service charities,they are making Neighbourhood Heroes out of hundreds of Grades 9 and 10 students.