Students and staff at Victor Lauriston School are hoping for some help on Facebook.
Lauriston is one of nine finalists across the country in the GoodLife Fitness Win 4 Kids contest. The schools are vying for a $25,000 top prize.
Lauriston principal Erin Van De Wiele said the Win 4 Kids contest is designed to promote fitness among young people.
If the school wins, the money will be used to fund the skating program, she said.
“Victor Lauriston has a really nice skating program. We walk across and use Memorial Arena,” Van De Wiele said.
The school is located about a block north of the arena.
Van De Wiele said the school provides the necessary equipment.
“Because many of our students don’t have proper hockey helmets and skates, our school provides properly fitted skates and helmets,” she said.
The school actually takes matters a step further in encouraging fitness, as Van De Wiele said students are able to sign out the helmets and skates.
“They can take them home, so if they want to use them on weekends with friends they can do that,” she said.
The program has benefitted from the help of community partners that have donated equipment in the past, Van De Wiele said. The school also does fundraising to help keep the skating program going, she added.
Some funds from the school board are also used to assist the program, but Van De Wiele would like to see that stop.
“We are always fundraising towards it, and use some donations from the board, but that money could be used for other programs,” she said. “If we can get money from this, it would allow us to use that (school board) money elsewhere.”
The program’s future would be much brighter if the school wins the contest, Van De Wiele said.
“There’s always a replacement component. Helmets expire; skates wear out,” she said, adding that the ice fees run about $1,000 a year. “We thought this contest would fit our bill quite nicely. If we win, we can continue the program and ensure that no child is without this opportunity.”
Helping Victor Lauriston win the top prize is easy. All you need to do is have a Facebook account, and then go to the website www.win4kids.com, and click through to vote for the school.
Voting runs until the end of February.
All finalists receive a portion of a $100,000 prize pool GoodLife set aside for the contest. The minimum contribution is $5,000.
Van De Wiele fears her school could be at a bit of a disadvantage, so any assistance from the community would be appreciated.
“We’re an elementary school. Most of the kids don’t have Facebook accounts,” she said. “We sent a note home for parents, however.”
