Toronto.com

Etobicoke's Anupra Chandran using funds to purchase Holocaust books for school library

A soon-to-be John G. Althouse Middle School graduate was recently named a recipient of a $1,000 Speaker’s Idol Change-Maker Grant.

Anupra Chandran, an eighth grader at the Kipling and Eglinton avenues-area school, won the grant in memory of Toronto Holocaust survivor Bill Glied on the heels of placing third at the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC)’s Speaker’s Idol competition on March 27.

The Change-Maker Grant Program offers financial assistance to students like Anupra who are interested in starting initiatives consistent with the FSWC’s mandate of “countering hate and intolerance” as well as “promoting education and peace, learning from the lessons of the Holocaust and other global genocides.”

Anupra requested that her grant funds be used to purchase books about the Holocaust for the John G. Althouse Middle School library.

“We want to achieve more Holocaust education for our school, as it is a topic not many people have much knowledge of,” Anupra said in a statement.

“By integrating books and films into our school’s library and book club, we can increase Holocaust awareness and teach students about an important subject area. This is especially important for lesser known genocides as well.”