Westwood Elementary Students Eric Bercier (left) and Jayden Wong show off their haul – photo 250News

Prince George, B.C. – The St. Vincent de Paul Society thrift shop and soup kitchen received a special delivery this morning.

Nine-year-old Westwood Elementary student Jayden Wong, his teacher and a classmate dropped off around 200 pounds of food, eight bags of blankets and warm winter clothing, and over $300 to help the homeless.

It was all the result of a chance meeting at a local grocery store parking lot recently.

“Jayden interacted with a homeless person outside Save-On-Foods with his mother and it really resonated with him,” said his teacher Alison Brown.

“He felt a lot of compassion towards him and he felt very badly about his situation so him and his mom bought him some groceries and then he came to talk to me.”

After a brainstorming session with her class, she said it led to the ‘Jayden Have a Heart for the Homeless Campaign’ which resulted in a clothing drive and a raffle draw.

“Jayden has an immense heart and compassion for others and this spread like wildfire throughout the school so teachers and other students were eager to help out and bring stuff in,” she said.

“For the last month we’ve been doing this, so every kid in our classroom took turns at lunch giving up their lunch to accept the donations and sell the raffle tickets. We’re very proud of Jayden.”

Colleen Dyson, manager of the St. Vincent de Paul’s thrift store, was thrilled to accept the items.

“It’s really amazing. It’s a wonderful thing him being that young that he could feel that much for the people downtown, that are living on the streets.”