Parents Council’s fundraising pays off
The Happy Thought School Parent’s Council can feel proud of their fundraising efforts after their hard work and a few grant opportunities came together to bring a new Outdoor Community Gathering Space to the area between Happy Thought School and East Selkirk Middle School that the whole community will be able to enjoy.
Liz Kenyon, Happy Thought School PAC Chair explained that the parent advisory council wanted to take on a project like this that would benefit everyone.
“When we had originally sat down and we’d heard that some of these grants were available, we had the thought that we’d like to do something big for the school, the school area, and the community as a whole. And, we wanted to focus on natural materials and Manitoba local things. So after, much planning and talking and things like that, we settled on a natural climbing/gathering space,” said Kenyon.
The grants that the Parent’s Council received were a provincial Building Sustainable Communities grant which came out to be a little less than $10,000 as well as a grant from the Selkirk and District Community Foundation of $4,500. There was also a donation from the school itself’s fundraising efforts which meant that the Parent’s Council had to raise about $12,000 to complete the project.
The fundraising took place throughout the year last year with an online 50/50 draw, a Halloween Dance, a pizza fundraiser and the sale of “like a million hotdogs” proving that small efforts really do add up.
Evergreen Custom Landscaping created the final design for the project which has places for smaller or larger groups to gather as well as a fun wooden climbing circular activity path. The design also combines aspects like local wood as well as limestone which is also available in Manitoba.
The gathering circles were put into the space last summer and Kenyon says that the Parent’s Council was very proud of their efforts.
“It was a lot of work by our little volunteer committee, who were all parents of elementary-aged kids. We all have lots going on already, so it was a really good effort by the whole group and it’s really nice to see,” she said.
Kenyon hopes that the children and the community enjoy the new outdoor space and it seems like they are according to Happy Thought School Principal Trish Goosen.
“Students have overwhelmingly received it so positively. They are using the community gathering space with their classes. There have been different classrooms that have utilized it in this beautiful weather for some outdoor learning activities as well as, we are using it at the end of the day for bussing. So, when students line up, we pick different groups to go and explore the area and it has been just an amazing addition to our school community,” said Goosen.
In addition to its being a great way to change up their learning environment, Goosen explained that the space itself has been a learning opportunity. In grade four, there is a unit on rocks so it can be used for land-based education, it’s being used to model behaviour expectations for indoor and outdoor time, and naturally, it can be incorporated into physical education fun.
“It seems like it’s been a part of our community for so long, even though it’s been just a couple of months, and it is a wonderful addition, not only for both of our school communities but for our larger East Selkirk community as well,” said Goosen.
