Its been a year of fundraising for the students and this past September the earth started shaking at Vernon Christian School as the site crew began breaking ground for the new sports courts.
Last year the green light was given to start raising funds for three outdoor sports courts, which include two volleyball sand courts and a multi purpose hard top court.
“We see great opportunity with the addition of the court space for our students and the greater community,” said Corinne Remple, marketing and communications coordinator at Vernon Christian School. “We see expansion for PE programs, recreational play space for students and school events and opportunity to host community sporting events.”
Volunteer labour has assisted in extending the dollars raised as far as they can go.
“We had almost 30 volunteers out here the day we had to get the rebar tied and the site prepped for the cement,” said Remple. “Thanks to many volunteer hours and generously reduced rates from local businesses we are making excellent progress — from dirt to cement in less than a month!”
North Valley Contracting, Shepherds Hardware, Westridge Quarries, Predator Concrete Pumping Limited, M&K Ready Mix, Corix, Norval Rentals and Mark Kehoe and crew are just a few companies/people VCS would like to recognize for sharpening their pencils and being generous with the cost of their labour and materials.
The students, parents and staff are in the final stages of their fundraising efforts, but it has been an uphill climb to raise the final $15,000 needed to complete the courts.
“There seems to be a misguided assumption that we are a private school attended largely by affluent families, so it has been hard to secure government/community grants,” said Remple. “The cost of educating a student at VCS is greater than the revenue generated by tuition and government grants.
“Securing partnership is therefore essential to our school to complete projects like this one or stay current with technology, even capital upgrades like roofs, playgrounds or siding at times have depended on gifts from our supporters.”
In September the school started to “sell” squares to help finance the project, with the goal to sell 400 squares at $50 each. To date, 92 squares have been sold. Each “purchase” is a 100 per cent tax receiptable donation. People wishing to support this project are asked to visit www.vcs.ca and use the donate now button at the top right corner of any website page. Donations can also be sent by mail or dropped off at the school. For personal attention, contact Remple at 250-545-7345 ext. 15 or by e-mail at cremple@vcs.ca.
