By Sheldon Spackman

Barrie Wilson Elementary joins McHappy Day in ‘Accessible Playground’ fundraiser

Apr 23, 2018 | 11:47 AM

Red Deerians who grab supper at the Clearview McDonalds on Monday or Tuesday night this week will not only fill their tummies but help out a great cause at the same time.

McHappy Day is running April 23 and 24, so anyone who buys something to eat there between the hours of 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. on those two days will see 50 per cent of the proceeds raised go towards the ‘Accessible Playground’ project underway at Ecole Barrie Wilson School in Red Deer’s Timberlands neighbourhood.

Chris Good, Principal, Ecole Barrie Wilson School acknowledges McHappy Day is usually a fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House but this year, he says the school will also be part of the annual fundraising event.

“Tonight and tomorrow from 5 – 7 pm, a percentage of all the sales at the Clearview McDonalds are going to be going to our Accessible Playground project,” Good says. “So we’re going to have some staff and some parents there helping and working at McDonalds tonight and we’re hoping to get lots of families in to help support our project.”

As for the project itself, he says fundraising for a new accessible addition to their current playground began about two years ago.

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“It’s great that we have a playground but there’s a lot of kids that have a real hard time getting on the playground or playing on the playground with their friends,” admits Good. “So when we created a vision for our new playground, we wanted to really create one where kids can access the playground and have fun and just enjoy recess. Or families can come in the evening and enjoy the park, all of them together.”  

If all goes well, he anticipates the project to be ready for use by either this fall or sometime next spring. In the meantime, Good says their fundraising efforts will continue.

“We’ve applied for some grants and things like that to try and get the funds in place to build the playground soon,” he explains. “The total cost for the playground is about $250,000 and at this point, we’re getting close to about half-way there but we’ve got lots of grants that we’re applying for as we speak. We’re hoping that if we’re successful with some of our grants, we can really speed up the process.”

However, he points out that every little bit helps and when they do fundraisers such as this, it makes it easier to obtain some of the grants they’re applying for.

According to Good, a number of different fundraisers are taking place to help make this project happen.

“Earlier in the year we partnered with Red Deer College on their ‘Pink in the Rink’ game with the women’s Queens hockey team,” explains Good. “We’re also doing a flower fundraiser at the school right now raising money for the new playground. Early next year we might do a couple of additional fundraisers to help us reach our goal.”