Since September 25th, the Wesley community has been in “Walk-A-Thon mode”. Parents and students have been getting pledges or doing things to raise money for the school. Our annual walk-a-thon is the only event that we put on each year to raise money for our own community. Every other fundraising event through our monthly Care and Share Day is for outside charities or organizations. As a not-for profit charitable organization, fundraising is a critical part of Wesley Christian Academy’s financial stability. Student tuition covers teachers’ salaries and some basic operational costs. However, maintenance, upgrades to existing equipment and resources, or their complete replacement requires significant outside funding. Our goal this year was to raise $40 000 to go towards needed items such as a new commercial oven, paying for renovations for a new classroom, safety enhancements for our parking lot and ELC playground, upgrades to our HVAC as the software is no longer supported, etc.
We are proud to share that many of our students worked hard to do their share of fundraising. Some sold homemade cookies while others made jewellery and donated the proceeds.
Our Grade 8 students were also in charge of promoting the walk-a-thon within the school community as part of a media literacy assignment. Students worked in teams to create clever messaging using different forms of media such as morning announcements, posters, print features in the weekly newsletter, videos, slide shows and presentations during chapel service.
Our Walk-a-thon event took place today. There were showers in the forecast but thankfully, they did not materialize when the students were outside. Our ELC started first around 10:00 AM.
Our Toddler 1 class walked in their enclosed playground at the front of the school. To make it a little different than their regular outdoor time, they were given musical instruments and streamer ribbons, and were encouraged to walk with them. Some even work special Walk-a-thon crowns! As this was all new to them, some were a little perplexed while others enjoyed the new experience.
Our Toddler 2 and PK1s also waved ribbons to familiar songs as they walked around their playgrounds. They were able to follow their teachers and march around the perimeter. PK2 used a dress-up theme to make their experience fun. Led by Mrs. Brown in an astronaut suit, many of the students had capes, police officer outfits, and other costumes on. After a few loops around their playground, the outside time turned into a dance party!
Our JK and SK students walked together in the elementary playground. With catchy music blasting from the gym doors, the students danced, jumped, waved ribbons and walked laps around the paved area. Some even received stickers for every lap they completed!
After lunch, the elementary students held their event. With great enthusiasm and excitement, Mrs. Ma rallied the students. She explained the safety rules and encouraged everyone to have fun. Ms. Romeo also mentioned that teachers would be watching to keep track of who would win various “walk-a-thon leadership” prizes. The Grade 3-8 students walked or ran along the outside perimeter of the playground while the Grade 1-2 students stayed inside the fenced area. Some students ran while others walked. Many did these activities in groups and in creative ways to make it fun! There were groups singing, doing cart wheels, marching as if they were in their air cadets unit, walking arm-in-arm, and running of course!
At 3:00 PM, students gathered in the gym for an assembly. There was a Wesley Wildfire senior and junior team update. Ribbons were handed out as well as the Encourager Awards for both teams.
After the sports update, Mrs. Ma congratulated the students for all their hard work in fundraising and in running/ walking today. Certificates were given to students who were identified as having demonstrated various leadership qualities during the walk-a-thon. Awards were given for the best energy, manners, sportsmanship, kindness, smiles, movement in creative ways, singing, etc. Mrs. Ma also shared the subtotal amount that has been raised so far – $44, 760.35 – excluding the money from tonight’s raffle and other pledges that are still slowly trickling in. Two classes had 100% participation – Grade 5B and Grade 8A!. Congratulations to the Grade 1A class for raising the highest amount per student in the class! Next, Ms. Romeo drew names for a special draw. For every $50 that a student raised, their name was entered once in the bucket. There were sixteen different winners for the elementary division. There will also be an ELC draw too.
At 3:30 PM, the gym doors were open to welcome parents to the Scholastic book fair and walk-a-thon raffle. It gave families a chance to mingle and enjoy a light snack of hotdogs, chips and a beverage.
At 5:30 PM, the raffle prizes were awarded. We are particularly thankful for all who donated prizes and purchased tickets.
Our final tally for our annual fundraiser will be announced once we have had a chance to add the money raised from today’s raffle and any other donations that trickle in.
A giant THANK YOU goes to everyone who supported this event – whether it was encouraging your child to ask for pledges from relatives at Mid-Autumn Festival or Thanksgiving dinner, sponsoring your own child, buying a few raffle tickets, and/or showing up to enjoy a hot dog at the BBQ and help us build a sense of community – we appreciate you and are grateful for your help. We are also very appreciative of your prayers of encouragement and support.