Submitted by Brenda Brewer, Principal, Bruce Peninsula District School and St. Edmunds Public School
Bruce Peninsula District School is proud to be part of Northern Bruce Peninsula and we appreciate the support the community gives us all year long. If you have someone on your list who’s hard to shop for, or if you’re looking at your year-end bookkeeping and think you might have a little extra to share, please consider a contribution to the school.
You could earmark your donation for:
1. “Kids Helping Kids” Community Fund – This is our “slush fund” that we can dip into when a student needs a bit of extra financial support. We buy clothes, subsidize team fees or field trips, supply gas cards when a family has to travel for medical appointments, and otherwise try to help as needed. Donations to this fund are always appreciated because we have the most flexibility in spending it.
2. Breakfast Club – It currently costs our school almost $1,000 a week to provide the Breakfast Club bins filled with healthy snacks to every classroom! That might seem like a lot but with over three hundred students, it costs less than a dollar per student each day and ensures that everyone has the fuel they need for learning.
3. Athletics/Teams – We charge secondary students a fee for each team they’re on, but these fees are not sufficient to cover all the expenses associated with sports. Our secondary teams are required to pay for referees, uniforms, equipment, and, most dauntingly, transportation. We are sometimes able to rely on parent volunteers to drive students (thank you so much, parent drivers!) but when we need to charter a bus, we pay an hourly rate PLUS mileage, so a game to the farthest school from BPDS costs us over $500 in busing costs alone.
4. Drama Production – We have a great tradition of joint elementary/secondary drama productions at BPDS, and there’s always some serious talent on display. But it doesn’t come cheap. The rights to perform a play generally cost from $1,000 – $3,500, the lights need to be rented each year for about $2,000, the costumes and props, even when improvised, can run an extra $1,000… it adds up. We charge for admission to the shows, of course, but extra support is very useful.
Donations can be made through School Cash Online (Go to https://bpds.bwdsb.on.ca and click on the blue bar towards the bottom right that says School Cash Online). You can also donate via cheque (payable to Bruce Peninsula District School) sent to the school office at 5 Moore Street, Lion’s Head, N0H 1W0. Tax receipts can be issued for any donation over $20.
Thanks so much!
