Thornhill Elementary School held its annual spring fair on April 27 to raise money for their programs and supplies.
Twenty vendors had their booths set up in the school gymnasium, which brought in over 300 shoppers and $600 this year.
“We need new desks, new chairs for a couple of classrooms, equipment for the gym, computers. We pay for it all ourselves,” says school secretary Tammy Boehm. “The Grade 6 do a lot of field trips, they go to the courthouse on their law days — it all comes out of our pockets.”
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The school currently has 155 students, which is half of what they used to have compared to several years ago, says Boehm. As their annual school budget is given on the number of students, Boehm says they have to be creative in finding ways to fundraise. They aim to raise approximately $10,000 per year to keep up with extra costs.
Thornhill Elementary School recently installed a new playground on their field, which cost a total of approximately $120,000. They raised roughly $30,000 and received about $90,000 from a provincial grant to help make it happen.
“The field is used by the community… The playground out there is brand new, we’re [looking to] get some benches and tables,” she says.
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This year though, they saw fewer people at their spring fair than expected as the northwest B.C. carnival tour did not take place, which usually helps generate foot traffic.
Boehm adds Grade 6 students continuously run chocolate sales throughout the year and are always eager to participate in any fundraising events.
“We try to come up with enough money, sometimes we might have students pitch in a couple of bucks to help pay for the buses and anything else,” says Boehm.
“For a small school, they can work together well and raise a lot of money. And if we need help, our students are tremendous and so are our parents.”
natalia@terracestandard.com
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