This past week was another example of the Dauphin and Parkland community coming together for a worthy cause.
Henderson School is in a great position to make some much-needed upgrades to their playground, thanks to both Tim Hortons’ week-long Smile Cookie initiative, and Co-Op Fuel Good Day on Tuesday, September 15.
Principal Ronda Casavant tells CKDM the school is very grateful for Co-Op and Tim Hortons choosing Henderson to receive the benefits of their initiatives.
“We’re thankful at Henderson School that our community has jumped on board in supporting this initiative to upgrade our playground,” said Casavant, adding that the support is “certainly going to make a lot of students happy, and bring a fresh new set of swings to our playground.”
The school principal says it all started when she was approached last year by Henderson kindergarten teacher Stacey Penner about getting onboard with these two fundraisers.
Stacey Penner is no stranger to getting involved with fundraising initiatives in the community — with experience improving playgrounds from her time working on the Whitmore School Playground Fund.
“When I moved over to Henderson a year ago, I saw a nice playground — but I really thought there were some elements missing. I know those swings are ancient and rusted and thought that ‘I have this experience under my belt, so I might as well run with it for the Henderson playground’.”
The 12th year MVSD teacher sent in applications and letters of requests at the beginning of 2020, which are now coming to fruition. She says it was a total fluke that both Co-Op and Tim Hortons’ fundraising initiatives in support of the playground upgrades happened in the same week.
“I was stunned with what an incredible community the Parkland region and Dauphin is when the chips are down and something important is needed,” said Penner.
Other funds raised for the playground include Dauphin Vet Clinic’s $2,000 donation; Wal-Mart’s small community grants $1,000 contribution to the project — and the Dauphin & District Community Foundation putting forward $5,500 to the Henderson playground upgrades.
Fundraising Results
As for Tim Hortons, Penner tells CKDM that $12,174 has been raised for the playground as a result of the Smile Cookie campaign.
Co-Op Fuel Good Day saw $0.10 from every litre go towards playground upgrades. A total of 52,512 litres sold on Fuel Good Day contributes a total of $5,251.24 to Henderson School.
