At least seven parents and teachers from St. Augustine have stepped forward to form the new playground committee, which will organize and fundraise for the school’s new playground equipment.
“We basically just started. The playground committee has only been formed for maybe a month,” said school principal, Cal Theisen. “We knew that we were going to have to (form a committee) soon, so we figured we might as well start now.”
It was during one of their Catholic School Community Council (CSCC) meetings that the decision was made and Laurie Warford was elected as chairperson. Warford is a parent as well as a member of the CSCC.
So far, Theisen said they’ve set a budget at around $150,000-$175,000, which will help pay for a new equipment set for the Grade 4-6 children and additional equipment for the primary students. Apparently, the current playground structure for the primary students still seems to be decent condition, so they’ll just be adding to it whereas the older grades will require a whole new set.
“We have some swings, but we’re going to add to those and increase the number,” said Theisen. “We’re also going to be building an outdoor classroom. We’ll be ripping out some of the old asphalt there and putting in picnic tables and benches. We’ll be doing some landscaping there to make it nice so that teachers can take a classroom out there if they want to do some work.”
Since the group formed a few weeks ago, they’ve met about three times. The school has already hosted a fundraiser with the Drive 4UR School event that was held on Saturday at Discovery Ford in Humboldt. Despite the terrible weather, they managed to raise over $3,000, and that’s not including the barbecue or the photo packages they sold, courtesy of Reflections by Richard.
“I was a little worried coming in because we only had 80 something drivers preregister,” said Theisen. “That morning we went in, we had a couple at the registration table and another few at the survey table. The internet and phone services were almost shut down because of all the people in town for the dance festival and the Broncos’ spring camp.”
Despite the slow start, people soon started showing up and making it a busy day for Theisen and the volunteers. They had about 160 drivers show up and he’s not sure how many more they could have accommodated.
Humboldt emergency services (Humboldt Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services, and RCMP), also stopped by on Saturday to drop off a check for $3,000, which was a portion of the money raised from their charity ball in February.
Theisen said they’re hoping to have the money raised within two or three years, but he’s not sure they’ll be able to manage that. To help get the word out, they’ve started a Facebook page and have already started brainstorming for other fundraisers.
The tricky part is doing it amidst all the other charity efforts happening in town.
“Because there’s a lot of the fundraising happening in town with the other schools and other things happening, we don’t want to be stepping on anyone’s toes,” said Theisen. “You have to be careful with what you’re going to do.”
Speaking of which, this was the first year St. Augustine hosted a Drive One event without the other two schools. It wasn’t by design though; Theisen said it just so happened that Discovery Ford called them up and asked if they wanted to do it and of course they agreed.
“I guess it’s a little more difficult in the sense that all the volunteer help has to come from one place,” he said. “We had a lot of help from parents and staff.
Everyone came together to help and we really appreciated that.”
While it’s a big job organizing, checking into alternative options, filling out grant applications, etc., Theisen said it’s fortunate how much people are willing to help out. It’s not just the parents putting in the time and work, it’s the local businesses and the people that come and offer support at the fundraisers like Drive 4UR School as well.
“I find it interesting that with all the fundraising going on, how supportive businesses are in town,” he said. “I can imagine they have people coming to them everyday asking for money or support … I’m just amazed at how on board everyone gets with helping, no matter what we do, students, parents, or community people are there to help.”
