Oct 15, 2024 | event, fundraiser, recap
A Message From Your Co-Chairs:
Hello Willingdon Families!
A big THANK-YOU to our Pizza Day volunteers for making this year’s first pizza day a great success using our new vendor Pizza Welat and a new distribution system – both appreciated by students and volunteers alike! General feedback we received from the students is that Pizza Welat is much tastier (and less spicy) and the bingo stamp was a little thrill.
We have a few things to tweak to knock next pizza day out of the park, but most importantly, Kristy and I appreciated the flexibility and general awesomeness of our parent volunteers. In no particular order: Kristin Taylor, Pam Bernstein, Andrea Taylor, Leetal Cuperman, Ghazel, Lisa Robicheau, Sophia Otoni, Amanda Scullion, Angela Yu, Amelia Pang, Alison N, Sandy Sidhu, Carolyn Bouchard, Margo Stewart, Anna Calvert, Roxanne Ross.
As we did last year, we will re-open the Pizza and Froyo ordering in January for families still wishing to participate!
– Daniela & Kristy
Sep 12, 2024 | event, recap
Highlights from the Annual Willingdon Corn Roast – September 11, 2024
We couldn’t have buttered ourselves up with better weather for this year’s Corn Roast! With the help of a small but ear-nest army of volunteers, (who we cannot thank enough) we shucked, boiled, and served a corn-tastic 1,000 ears of corn. Families enjoyed a fun-filled evening with classic games like the Corn-Sack races and a tug-of-war that really pulled the crowd in, while parents got the chance to meet new faces and reconnect with old friends.
A special thank you goes out to:
- Kristin & Jay
- Nicholas
- Nicolina
- Robin
- Heidi
- Shaun
- Sophia
- Nadine
- Ken and Violet
- Caretaker Richard
It’s events like these that truly kernel our community spirit and create lasting memories for our kids. Keep your eyes peeled for more community-building events — after all, it takes all of us to make these moments a-maize-ing!
We’re delighted to have Dave Handelman, a Willingdon parent, capture our memories. During school events that Home and School supports, such as Halloween, Dave photographs children whose parents signed media release form. For Home and School events outside regular school hours, Dave freely photographs. However, if you would like to have a photo of your child/family removed from the website, please contact Home and School and we’ll be happy to oblige.
Photos from Corn Roast 2024
(click photo to see slideshow)
Photos from Corn Roast 2023
(click photo to see slideshow)
Jun 18, 2024 | recap
Looking back, what a busy year it has been! Kristy came to the co-chair role as an old hat and Daniela as…. a new hat. It was instant chemistry though, right from Corn Roast planning. Our shared appetite for silly shenanigans coalesced quickly to kick Corn Roast up a notch with some competitive vintage games. And for the rest of the year, we kept our focus on what Willingdon needed most post-Covid … the return of that old school in-person vibe.
Let’s look back. In somewhat chronological order, Home and School’s activities included (drum roll please)……
1 “Welcome Back Willingdon Families!” Corn Roast
1 QHFSA Membership Drive (keeping us an honest Association member)
1 Annual Pizza Campaign*
1 Annual Froyo Campaign*
1 Crazy Halloween Extravaganza
3 Scholastic Book Fairs (rewards go to teachers to purchase classroom tools and supplies)
1 Carolyn’s Toy Drive (benefiting local families for Christmas)
FSF Holiday Baskets
2 Food Drives (benefiting four different local organizations)
1 Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week and additional gestures throughout the year
1 Family Pancake Breakfast
1 Willingdon Logo Design Campaign
1 Spiritwear Campaign*
1 Student Film Festival
1 Grand Finale Bash (Unprecedented!)*
Decorating for Winter and Spring Concerts and Kindergarten Graduation
Interior Beautification Projects in both buildings
Volunteering for photo days, vaccination days and open houses
Countless hilarious Weekly Newsletters!
(events marked with * raise funds for Home & School to run all the other activities)
And last but not least, Grade 6 Grad Committee with several dedicated fundraisers. We wish all our graduates a sincere “Woot! Woot! Congratulations!”
We are thankful to have our parent photographer this year who captured many of our memorable events, and we are thankful for our numerous parent volunteers – many hands do indeed make light work. Some of you do some serious heavy lifting and our hats are off to you. You are rockstars!
We can not close out this year without a huge shout-out to our dedicated Scholastic Book Fair Team, Michelle, Sharon, Eva, Megan (and their team of volunteers). It is a huge undertaking and requires coordination with Scholastic, the school administration and a team of volunteers and not only did you do it once and then twice but for the first time ever, THRICE! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
We applaud our teachers, staff and administration for the heavy lifting you do day in and day out. We wish our dear Miss Carmen and Mr. McKelvie a warm and heartfelt adieu and best wishes for your new adventures. We will see you around, of that, we are sure. And lastly, thank you to our Executive Committee – Andrea, Veronica, Adam, Margo, and Claudia. Your dedication is appreciated. You have been generous with your time and the school is better for it.
As the school year winds down, we have one final responsibility to launch the school supplies’ campaign. Keep an eye out for a separate communication this week with scheduled reminders in the coming three weeks.
Wishing everyone in our amazing community a safe, happy, adventure-filled summer!
Kristy and Daniela
Your Co-chairs, a.k.a. Thing 1 and Thing 2
Jun 12, 2024 | event, recap
Unprecedented.
That’s the word that keeps coming to mind when we think back to Friday night’s Grand Finale. Unprecedented turnout despite the rain. Unprecedented resilience from our volunteers. Unprecedented patience from our parents as we adapted to the weather. And unprecedented funds raised setting us up for a good start in the new school year. We’ll share more details on that front at the Annual General Meeting planned for June 26 online. You’re welcome to attend.
And as we scrambled, pivoted and even despaired (ahem, Daniela), we were reassured that all was not lost by the waves of laughter from the dunk tank crowd, the energy of the kids messing around, the fact that running out of food meant people were eating and the palpable happiness in the air. And the rainbows! What a fortuitous sign. We were stubbornly optimistic when we made the call earlier in the afternoon to push ahead. We said “either way, it’s going to be memorable” and that it was.
A genuine heartfelt thank you to all our volunteers. You went above and beyond, sticking it out in the downpour and staying on at your posts past your committed time. Thank you to our parents for showing up and taking part – rain be d$#**ed. And thank you to Carmen, Peter, Eugenia, Rosie, and Elena for your enthusiastic support pre, during and post event. Friday was a testament to Willingdon’s community and we couldn’t be prouder.
