The days of students at Land of Lakes Public School in Burk’s Falls sharing jerseys for athletic events are set to soon end.
The school is now able to place an order for new jerseys thanks to fundraising efforts by Corinne Penstone, a local mom and the manager at the Pulled Smokehouse and Welcome Centre Canteen.
With the full support of the Smokehouse’s owners, Tim Pettigrew and Rob Taylor, Penstone raised $1,792 for the school.
Penstone is a member of the parent council. At the end of June, she organized a community barbecue for the 25-member group at the Smokehouse with the business donating the food, such as burgers and sausages.
The event raised $290 and Penstone realized this wasn’t going to be enough to buy the number of jerseys to outfit the students.
The Smokehouse decided it would continue the jersey initiative through the summer by selling children’s stickers at the canteen for $1 apiece and it would match the dollar total up to $500.
The stickers are the kind that kids put on water bottles or books.
“We got to $500 by the end of July and (the Smokehouse) matched that amount. It shows a community can make a difference," Preston said.
The $1,000 plus the $290 was more than enough to cover the cost of the jerseys, but the initiative was working so well that the Smokehouse continued to sell stickers for several more weeks until a further $500 was raised which was not matched.
The new jerseys, which are blue and have the school’s name and a lightning bolt, will replace older ones that have worn out and are no longer usable resulting in the need to share the remaining jerseys.
Although Land of Lakes has about 320 students it’s the older students who wear the jerseys when competing especially against other schools.
Penstone says the new jerseys will most certainly be in place when track and field season begins at the school next spring. She said staff at the school were thrilled when they heard of the project.
Normally the parent council undertakes fundraising initiatives but Penstone says the council is limited to how many events can take place.
Penstone says she didn’t want the jersey drive to cut into future parent council projects so she initiated the present drive with the Smokehouse.
“We did this privately,” she said. “But our parent council is an amazing group of people. You can tell with them it’s about all the kids in the school, not just their own kids.”
Penstone adds in the case of the jerseys, there are volunteers who wash them after an event so that students have a clean jersey to wear at their next sports outing.
As for the remaining funds that are not needed to buy jerseys, Penstone says the parent council will decide where that money is spent.
“It could be to buy volleyballs or basketballs, as long as it benefits the kids this school year,” she said.
Penstone has twin 12-year-old boys, Phaedon and Maximus, in Grade 7 at Land of Lakes Public School while her seven-year-old daughter Mayla is a Grade 2 student at the school.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Almaguin News. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
