Since October 4th, the Wesley community has been in “Walk-A-Thon mode”. It has been a shorter fundraising period than previous years but everyone has been rallying together to make it happen. 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 $45 000 to go towards resurfacing our toddler playground, upgrading some sound equipment and replacing classroom projectors on an as needed basis.
We are proud to share that many of our students worked hard to do their share of fundraising but this year, we would like to spotlight one individual who really stood out. This Grade 2 student is new to Wesley, but he wanted to give back to the school for making him feel so welcome. After the family read our “Meet Wesley’s Grade 7 Baker with a Purpose” feature earlier in the month, he was inspired to bake cookies and sell them at his parents’ chiropractic and rehab clinic. Not only did he bake the cookies, he made pitches to the clients for support, took care of the financial transactions and even supervised a 3 year old “helper” at the booth. This student had 3 pages of pledges (27 in all) and raised $375.00 from the sale of his baked goods!!! This new student’s proactive effort is well noted and hopefully, will inspire others in the future.
Our Walk-a-thon event took place today. 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.
Our Toddler 2 and Pre-K classes walked at 9:30 AM in the elementary playground. The teachers also used creative ways to make the walking activity a fun adventure. The toddlers and PK1s waved ribbons. PK2 used a turkey theme with turkey dance songs, led by Mrs. Brown herself, riding on a giant inflatable turkey while wearing a turkey hat!
As there was a chance of rain in the afternoon, the JK to Grade 8 students gathered at the back of the school at 11:00 AM to begin their walk early. First, Ms. Hoover explained the safety rules and encouraged everyone to have fun. She 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 JK to Grade 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!
At 12:10 PM, students reassembled in the gym for an assembly. 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.
There was also a house team update. Each house was asked to stand and give their house cheer! This was followed by a house team point reveal. To date, all of the four teams are quite close, with only a 7 point spread between first place Fry and last place.
There was also a sports team update. Ms. Hoover handed out ribbons to some of our cross country running teams. Our Grade 6-7 girls placed fourth while our Grade 5-8 teams came in third. Wesley also had a first place finisher! One of our Grade 7 girls had the best time for her division! Ms. Hoover also handed out the Encourager Award for a Grade 7 student who surprised her the most with his effort and enthusiasm. Mr. Au and Mr. Pun also handed out ribbons to our Junior Co-Ed Soccer Team, which finished in second place in their division and third overall. The Encourager Award was given to a Grade 5 student.
After the sports update, Ms. Hoover shared the following Walk-a-thon statistics with the students:
- Class with the highest participation percentage for getting pledges: 100% – Grades 2A, 3B and 4B
- Class with the highest average contribution per participant: Grade 3B with $186.39
- Student with the highest number of pledges: Student in 2B with 27 pledges
Then she drew names for a special draw. For every $50 that a student raised, their name was entered once in the bucket. Ms. Hoover pulled out 10 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 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. God hears them and in turn, has richly blessed Wesley!