This fall, the Broadview Public School Council and community organized a heartwarming initiative to provide warm winter gear to students and families in need in their community.
Every year, the Council has participated in an initiative supporting the Snowsuit Fund, a local nonprofit that provides snowsuits to children in need across the Ottawa Area. This year, the Council created a link with the Snowsuit Fund to collect online donations from the school community, raising over $2,000!
They also launched an innovative project to collect and donate gently used snowsuits, snow pants, mitts, hats, and boots to students at Broadview, their sister school, York Street Public School, and the Caldwell Family Centre.
The Broadview School Council decided to turn an empty portable into a “store” of gently used winter gear for students to choose from, as they felt it was important to offer choice to students needing winter gear and the opportunity to determine best and most comfortable fit. A teacher from each division and language of instruction worked with the School Council, engaging students in their classes to create announcements and design posters for the initiative. Families safely dropped off items outside the school, and parent volunteers from the Council sorted the items. Having collected enough donations for approximately 90-100 families, some donations were placed in the portable for students in need, and others were shared with The Caldwell Family Centre.
The generous response from the school community filled the portable with many donations in different sizes and colours for students to choose from. The York Street Public School principal also safely gathered items to distribute to the sister school.
“The Broadview PS community worked hard this fall to sort through gently used winter wear in advance of our coldest months,” says Kelly Remfry, from the School Council’s Broadview Cares Committee. “We had a ton of support from teachers and classes in terms of school advertising, daily announcements and posters at our gates. Families were delighted to be able to donate to the Snowsuit Fund, to our locally run Caldwell Family Centre and to our own community in need at Broadview and at our sister school York Street. We loved seeing kids of all ages show up with bags of awesome gear to share with us. They were beaming with pride. It was a huge success and we’re so proud of our active and engaged school community!”
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