The last unrefurbished playground in Walnut Grove is doomed.
Students did five kilometres worth of walking around Dorothy Peacock Elementary’s sports fields and play area to raise $15,000 towards the 20-year-old playground’s destruction… so it can be rebuilt better, and with greater accessibility for a couple of students with disabilities at the school.
Students, staff, and the Parents Advisory Council put themselves on the road to a better playground four years ago, explained PAC president Tanya MCLachlan.
She said the price tag for a new, safe, and accessible primary playground is about $96,000.
By the start of this year, their fundraising activities had built up a nest egg of $55,000. They were helped along with some significant donations, including $5,000 from the Walnut Grove based Rotary Club of Langley Sunrise.
The walk-a-thon goal was to raise $10,000… and when it was announced at a school assembly that the students had raised $15,000, the cheers may well have been heard across Walnut Grove.
McLachlan said the school’s 492 students raised the walk-a-thon money themselves, with their own bakes sales, neighbourhood door-knocking, and “asking their family and friends at spring break.”
One girl, she said, set up a lemonade stand on the sidewalk at the corner of the school grounds and raised $150.
The girl raised hundreds more by other means, as well, said McLachlan. “She was one of our top earners.”
The school and its PAC are hoping a fun fair later this month – “a kind of carnival thing,” said McLachlan – will fill up the playground account.
They expect to have the new facility in place for the kids for the coming school year.
The fun fair will be held at Dorothy Peacock Elementary on May 24, from 5:30 to 9 p.m.