The Holy Spirit Community Playground Committee is encouraging the Cochrane community to get on board with its fundraising initiative to give the East End community a new playground at the Catholic elementary school.
Some 400 students, as well as other community members, utilize the playground. School staff is uncertain of the exact age of the structure, but according to principal Kevin DeForge it is ‘one of the oldest, if not the oldest in the Calgary Catholic school district’.
Playgrounds are not included in school board budgets; playground structures must be fundraised by schools, both new and existing.
“It’s falling apart — it’s coming down,” said committee coordinator Lisa Lawrence, noting the rusting steel and aged pressure-treated wood.
Lawrence said Grade 2 students approached student council last spring with a heartwarming letter imploring student council to begin fundraising for a new playground, as the current structure places Holy Spirit as the only Cochrane area school with a playground that is not wheelchair-accessible.
It was out of this that the playground committee was born, and since its spring inception they have raised $18,000 — inching their way toward a goal of $60,000.
Should the committee reach its goal over the course of the school year, this would put them at a greater potential for receiving provincial grant monies that take greater consideration for community projects that have fundraised half of the cost of projects.
The cost of a new playground is $125,000; the committee aims to have the dollars secured in one year from now and to have the playground operational by the spring of 2016.
“We will be the first in the district (that we know of) to build a playground made out of 100 per cent recyclable materials,” said school vice-principal Kirk Linton, adding that some $10,000 was raised in the recent Entertainment Book fundraiser.
Voting for ‘Model A: Bungalow’ or ‘Model B: Summit’ closed Oct. 1 and the contract will be awarded to Green Roots Play Equipment Inc.
“Over 50,000 recycled milk jugs will be used to build the playground,” said Lawrence.
Other than stopping by the school to donate, there are two opportunities for Cochranites to get behind the push by voting online for Holy Spirit’s running for grant monies.
The first is to visit avivacommunityfund.org and vote daily until the contest closes for ‘Holy Spirit’ to win a minimum of $5,000 for its community project; there are two weeks left to vote.
The second is to visit inmybackyardcontest.com, select ‘Category One’ and scroll down to ‘Holy Spirit Community Playground’ to vote. CIR Realty will select four recipients of $5,000 community initiative grants (one from each of the four categories); each person can only vote once in this contest.
The playground committee will also be presenting to town council in the coming months.
“We have a community grant program so that the town can help out with community projects like this — applicants can receive up to a maximum of $2,000,” explained Suzanne Gaida, senior manager of community services for the town.
Gaida added the town provides consultation support to schools throughout the process.
The town is responsible for life cycle maintenance of all public parks throughout Cochrane; the life cycle maintenance of school playgrounds is the responsibility of the school where the structure is located.
Lawrence and the playground committee will also be selling sponsorships to local business (Gold - $1,500; Silver $1,000; and Bronze $500); tax-deductible receipts are issued for all donations over $25.
To get in touch with Lawrence, she can be reached via email at [email protected]; Holy Spirit Elementary can be reached at 403-500-2065.
