Agnes Davidson school needs community help for playground fundraising

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Spell-a-thons, Lethbridge Hurricanes fundraisers, school garage sales and a Christmas gift shop are just some of the ways parent council and the school have teamed up to raise funds. A turkey bingo is planned for Nov. 17 and a One Stop Christmas Shop event has been pegged for November 26th.

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And while these fundraising efforts have been successful, the school is looking to bring in some money in one huge chunk by securing an Aviva Canada grant.

Every year, Aviva Canada provides $1 million to create positive change in the community through the Aviva Community Fund, Canada’s longest running online funding competition. This year, there are 454 project entries, and the Agnes Davidson submission is the only one from Lethbridge.

“We want all of Lethbridge to get behind it,” said Smith, who added the $1 million grant is split up between the top 30 projects, based on votes from the website.

The top 30 finalists are reviewed and evaluated by an independent panel of judges, who choose the winning ideas. The grand prize winners will receive up to $100,000 for their project. Voting started Oct. 11 and ends Oct. 28.

“Voting is super easy,” said Lisa Weiss, Agnes Davidson school council chair, who added this year, visitors to the Aviva website can use all 18 of their votes on one day, and all you need is an email address to vote.

As of early Monday morning, the Agnes Davidson project had garnered just under 7,000 votes. The hope is that will grow significantly over the next few weeks, with strong local support.

“We are the only organization in Lethbridge that is going for this, so we are not competing against anyone else here in the city,” said Terra Leggat, the school’s vice-principal.

With the school’s overwhelming growth in the last decade and a student body of over 700 students, the school and local community is in dire need of a playground upgrade and replacement, according to Smith. She added the new structure will include something for everyone.

“The big thing is it’s accessible,” she said, and mentioned the rubber surface will allow children in wheelchairs easy access. “It’s quite a unique design and it’s quite innovative.”

The dragon-themed structure is designed to include all seven senses of a child’s play, and provide accessibility for all students.

The playground is used not only by Agnes Davidson students but also by groups, organizations and children in the surrounding neighborhoods. The playground is located in the heart of the Agnes Davidson neighborhood, supporting the communities of numerous south Lethbridge neighborhoods, particularly those partitioned by Scenic Drive, such as Tudor Estates, Chinook Heights and Park Royal. The playground is also used daily by numerous community organizations such as It’s A Blast Program and Boys & Girls Kinder Club South.

The new inclusive playground structure, plus resurfacing of the adjoining playground, does come with a large price tag, as Smith added the goal is to raise the full amount by early 2017, to ensure the new playground is implemented in the summer of 2017.

Visit dragonpark.net and vote for the new Ecole Agnes Davidson School Community Playground.

For more information on the École Agnes Davidson School community playground, contact Smith at 587-220-5827, KMDSmithConsulting@gmail.com, www.dragonpark.net or on Twitter @Aggie_Support.