Glenbow Elementary School is celebrating some exciting news this year, with a little help from their friends.
The Friends of Glenbow (FOG) fundraising group recently reached two fundraising goals for the school, allowing for new lunch tables and new recycling bins for the students.
“All we do is raise money to help enhance their education,” said Sandi Hennig, chairperson of the Friends of Glenbow. “This year has been exciting because we have been getting things in the school that the school needed.”
Hennig said the non-profit group has five people on the executive team and 10 active members, but a lot of other parent volunteers help with fundraising and activities as well. The group meets once a month and has been around since 1999.
Any ‘parent, guardian or Glenbow tax payer’ can be a member of the society, according to Hennig.
Hennig said that during the meetings they consult with someone from school administration to find out the current needs of the school that isn’t covered by the school budget, such as field trips, certain technology items and a new playground, as the current one would reach its expiry date in 2018.
Throughout the year, they hold fundraisers to raise money for those different projects.
One of the needs Hennig said that came up was for more lunch tables in the gym so students would have a place to sit and eat, rather than on the floor.
She said there were some tables brought in a few years ago, but as the school keeps expanding, there was a growing need for more tables. In December, FOG was able to provide the funds to purchase five new tables.
The group also contributed to the school’s recycling program that has been in place for a number of years. Hennig said they provided the funding to purchase new recycling bins ‘that allow for a more efficient and effective method of collecting and processing recycling.’
“Glenbow has always been a good recycling school, and they even compost and use that in their community garden,” said Hennig.
She explained that the school didn’t have the proper bins to separate different materials, such as paper and plastics, and students were forced to use converted garbage cans, which made the process a bit confusing.
Hennig said they worked with Sharon Howland, waste and recycling manager with the Town of Cochrane, who gave them an assessment on their recycling program and made some recommendations.
“Our recycling was good before, but now it is amazing. The process time has been cut in half with the new bins. It’s really quite exciting,” she said.
Hennig said that the bins are now properly labeled and ‘match the look of recycling bins found in the community, and are on carts, which makes life easier for everyone.’
For more information visit the Friends of Glenbow group on Facebook or attend their next meeting March 3 at the Glenbow Library at 7 p.m.
