Staff and students at Steffie Woima Elementary School are putting their heads together and coming up with creative ways to raise funds for a much-needed new playground.
Angela Eadie-Gyori, principal at Steffie Woima, said the east playground, the one in need of replacement, is the school’s original playground and it was built not long after the school opened in 1989.
“We are no longer able to fix it and it’s been deemed unsafe by Chinook’s Edge School Division,” Eadie-Gyori explained. “So we’ve been pulling out components and now it’s time to think about what we want to put in there.”
However, a new playground isn’t cheap, and Eadie-Gyori said it will take some time to raise the money the school needs.
“Our bigger wooden structure playground, the west playground, is not far from the end of its life as well,” she added. “So we aren’t sure when that one will need to go, but we expect about three to five years.”
The school did put in a new section of playground about five or six years ago and Eadie-Gyori said the students have been lucky to have such great playgrounds over the years.
“We know there’s a lot of community use for our playground,” she said. “It’s so good for our kids to be outside, running around and having fun. The playground benefits not only the school kids, but also the neighbourhood kids as well.”
The school has been thinking up ways to fundraise for the new playground and there are a few events coming up. The environment club is hosting a white elephant sale in December, where students can bring a little money and buy presents for their family members. In January and February, the school will be hosting a bottle drive. There will be an online silent auction happening in March and the school will be hosting a read-a-thon in April, where students ask people to sponsor their reading goals.
For individuals or corporations wanting to donate, either a monetary donation or donations for the white elephant sale or silent auction, they can call the school for further information. The new playground will have a sign to recognize sponsors.