Snow heroes: Students get to work shovelling around neighbourhoods for city challenge

Edmonton kids are participating in the Snow Heroes Challenge by shovelling sidewalks. The city started the challenge to teach kids about responsibility.

Some Edmonton schools are accepting a challenge from the city this winter to help their neighbours during snowfall.

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The city created the School Snow Heroes program to encourage kids to shovel the driveways of neighbours who may need help. Currently, 17 schools – all elementary or junior schools, save two high schools – are registered.

City snow program co-ordinator Kaydi Lehman said the initiative is meant to get students thinking about communal responsibility and volunteerism.

“Snow removal in Edmonton is such an important part of our community, and it’s such an important part of living in a winter city. If we can encourage youth to get involved, it can make such a difference,” she said on Wednesday.

Heroes and legends in the making

Each student gets a chart to keep track of snow removal jobs they’ve completed. After five houses, they become a “snow hero.” After 10, they become “snow legends.”

Becoming a snow hero has its perks, including a draw for a class pizza party at the end of the season.

Grade 6 student Chigolum Umeonyido and fellow classmates at Monsignor William Irwin said their neighbours’ reactions have been rewarding.

“Every time I explain what we’re doing, they say it’s nice and they try to pay me for it. And I’ve declined because it’s meant to be non-profit,” Umeonyido said.

Gabrielle Liles, a Monsignor William Irwin teacher, said the city’s challenge went hand-in-hand with what the Grade 6 students have been learning this term.

“It relates a lot to what we’re doing in social studies, whereas we look out for the common good of our community, we look out for others … we wanted to promote kindness, helpfulness, so that our kids are active citizens when they grow up,” she said on Wednesday.

While some students are at a disadvantage in becoming snow heroes because they live in apartments, where driveway shovelling opportunities are few and far between, Liles said the kids are still very motivated.

“Even just shovelling one house will make a difference,” she added.

Other snow programs in development

The city has a few other snow shovelling programs in the works, including a pilot program where low-income seniors and residents with disabilities or mobility challenges are able to apply for city assistance in snow removal.

That program, however, is at full capacity. It also ends in 2026, when city staff will take their annual report to council with the hopes of allocating more resources to its continuation.

But neighbourly residents can also become what the city calls “snow angels.” If someone has a city “Snow Angel Needed” poster up in their window, anyone is invited to come lend a helping hand.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson