Dear Editor,
It is such an honour to live in a small community. This spring, staff members of Barrhead Elementary School decided to raise funds for two students that suffer with cystic fibrosis. We wanted to improve their class time by purchasing vibration vests that would cut in half the time they spend in treatment during the school day.
As many of the members of this community are aware, we were more than surprised and elated when we reached our fundraising goal in three short weeks. To be able to raise nearly $32,000 in the tough economic times in a small town has left us speechless.
All of the fundraising efforts could not have been such a success without the full support of the Barrhead Community. A special thank you goes to Aaron at the IGA for hosting a hotdog sale at the store, ADLC staff for hosting a hotdog lunch, Allan Cote from the Barrhead Co-op for donating water and cookies for the students and staff during our walk-a-thon, Mr. Jack Burlett for picking up the nebulizer machines and Dausen Kluin for spreading the information and collecting pledges at Fort Assiniboine. Many businesses stepped forward with sizable donations which helped us reach our goal so fast; thank you Du-al Contractors, Barr Construction, Willie &Sons Oilfield, the Roxy Theatre, Dr. Traynor, Renew, Restore, Relax Massage Therapy, MechJager Mechanical and Trident Explorations. We would also like to thank Arron from the Barrhead Leader for giving us all the coverage that made this project a success.
This fundraiser touched the hearts of the students at Barrhead Elementary School in a way that has made the committee proud. All of the teachings that staff do regarding character traits, compassion, responsibility, etc., were shown by students who participated. We had students from Kindergarten to Grade 6 being involved in collecting pledges, some hosted lemonade stands, made and sold friendship bracelets, gave up their milk money for the fundraiser and most of all really came forward to help their fellow peers. If you ask any of the students in our school what cystic fibrosis is, they have a new understanding of the effects it has on the body.
Many businesses offered help to raise funds for us and thankfully we were happy to ask them to please find other organizations as our goal had been achieved. Thank you to the Barrhead Co-op for wanting to host a hotdog sale, to Barr-head Golf Club Men’s League for offering their 50/50 sales, the Oilmen &Oil Ladies Golf Tournament for offering their proceeds of the tournament. We hope their year was a success and that the new charity will benefit from the generosity of Barrhead residents.
We are currently working closely with the Stollery Hospital to order the Vibration Vests for the girls. This process is long as they require a prescription for the order, as well as the doctors figuring out what frequency and vest is best suited for each girl. We have also been able to purchase two new nebulizer machines so that each of the girls has their own machine to use at the school. As well, we have purchased for each of them a portable machine that will go on fieldtrips with the girls. Although we are still waiting on a couple of donations to arrive at the school, we do believe that we will have some extra funds from this fundraiser. Those funds will be in a trust for the girls to use for extras that are not covered by normal school expenses. An example may include modifications for the Grade 6 Jasper Challenge.
Thank you everyone for opening your hearts and wallets to help us accomplish this goal in three short weeks. Without the support of the community this would never have been possible.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Brost, Cindy
Sanford and Leah Pierunek
