Branden, Alex, Amy, Nathan and Lisa Desautels get into their veggies

Steinbach Junior High School has had huge success with its new fundraising initiative. The school sold vegetables this year instead of the traditional chocolates.

Principal Eldon Dueck says students sold upwards of 30 thousand pounds of veggies. And, and he notes, there was also a charity component. "The teacher leader, Lisa Desautels, found a way to involve the donation aspect by having people being allowed to actually buy a bag and donate a bag. And, that turned out to be an incredible success. About one-third of those veggies went to Soups' On(the local soup kitchen) and Southeast Helping Hands," said Dueck.

The school raised about 14 thousand dollars through this fundraiser. The money will be used for things like transportation, school supplies, outdoor sports equipment and facilities and digital camera equipment.

Dueck adds, "I'm excited about the results because we're providing a different product and we're into the sustainability era here and it just promotes healthy eating and health foods. And, the fundraising results surprised me in terms of the amount we took in so that was really exciting."