A few years ago, a couple of sixth grade teachers began encouraging their classes at Canton Intermediate School to bring in food for the Canton Food Bank. The following year, classrooms began competing for who could collect the most food. This year, the participation of every fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade classroom was so high that they donated 2,100 pounds to Farmington Valley food banks.

Not long after that fundraiser ended, students and staff in the 400-student school gave toys, hats and mittens to less fortunate children and collected change to protect endangered animals. In mid-December, they held the annual Canton Intermediate School-Cherry Brook Primary School staff volleyball game and bake sale to raise funds for the Kilimanjaro Education Foundation. They've raised so much money, the foundation built and equipped a classroom in Tanzania.  

And for the past four years, some 50 percent of the student population has given up a Saturday to rock in chairs for eight hours and raise funds for the Connecticut Children's Medical Center – donating more than $40,000 so far.

In a town where children are taught from pre-school and kindergarten to give to others and where students in the middle and high schools routinely raise thousands for charities, Canton Intermediate School serves as the training ground for civic engagement and social responsibility.

"It's one continuum," says sixth grade teacher Patrick Allen, one of about a dozen CIS staff members who take a leadership role in organizing service projects. After Cherry Brook gets children involved in giving in smaller ways and introduces children to the concept of altruism, he says, "We pick up the pace, and our hope is that it becomes part of the fabric of children's personalities."

The school district strives to educate the whole child, and building character is a fundamental principle, Principal Jordan Grossman says. "I think it's sustainable. If you look at the middle school and the high school, they're doing great things with service learning."

Teaching children to care for others is not only part of the school's mission. It's a way of life. Students also participate in Kids Care Club, Circle of Friends, ECO-Circle and too many others to name.  

"This staff, before I arrived here, was always a staff of community involvement," says Grossman. The value of civic responsibility has continued, in part, because he asks applicants what they can bring to the school community and the community at large.

The character of giving is contagious, Allen says. "I think the beautiful thing about the spirit of our school is they say, 'yes, I'll help.' When that happens, an event comes together." While each fundraiser has a few leaders, they wouldn't be possible without the dozens of teachers, parents and students who volunteer.

Doreen Tarascio, director of development programs at the Connecticut Children's Medical Center Foundation, says they are grateful to the many schools that raise funds for CCMC, but "Canton Intermediate really shines.

"They are one of our biggest fundraisers," she says. "The whole Canton Intermediate School community embraces the rock-a-thon," she says. "The enthusiasm they've shown – you can feel it when you walk into the school that it's a special community," she says. "The teachers and the principal – everyone takes it to heart. There's a great deal of ownership and pride. They want to know where their money is going. They want to know that they're really making a difference."

With Canton being a small town, the faculty strives to help students see the world beyond themselves and their community. It's bringing students to cheer for athletes in the Special Olympics. It's teaching kids about poverty in developing countries or families in town who are struggling in a bad economy. By its example, the staff teaches compassion and service.

It's that commitment to building character that helped earn CIS the 2010 Connecticut Association of Schools Exemplary School Climate Practices Award.

Sixth grader Aubrey Sanford, an active participant, says she's glad she's at a school where there are plenty of opportunities to help others.

"I told my friends that I was involved in Kids Care and all the fun stuff that we do, and some of my friends signed up," says Aubrey, 11.  "We made these little snowmen ornaments for the seniors. It made me really happy, [because] I thought a lot of them might not have the holiday cheer that we have."

Kids want to help others, Aubrey says. "I think it's good for our students to learn that we need to care about other people."