Lord Kelvin Elementary School parents are hoping to green the school grounds to make it more pleasing for students and neighbours.
In recent weeks, lumber and giant rocks have been delivered to the school and volunteers have started work on a project to beautify the school grounds.
“It’s a PAC-led initiative to green the school. We want to make it nicer for the kids,” said Della Wittig, a member of the parents advisory council. “Our vision is kind of a West Coast look – we have rocks and logs. We want it to be very organic looking. It’s to make a more appealing environment for kids to play in and for people in the community to enjoy as well.”
The PAC’s plans include refilling a flower garden on the Seventh Avenue side of the school, building planter boxes for the school’s inner courtyard and filling them with plants, and adding elements like rocks and logs to improve the ambiance around the school.
Wittig said parents have commented that the school grounds, including the courtyard, were devoid of any character or greenspace.
Fred Thompson Contracting has donated delivery of rocks, logs and topsoil toward the school beautification project.
“Some of those are going to go in the courtyard, some have been placed under trees,” Wittig said of the giant rocks now adorning the site. “They were donated.”
Wittig said the PAC members don’t have a lot of expertise about gardening, so they welcome input from community members, as well as donations of drought-resistant plants or cuttings for the containers that are being built by a parent.
“It’s for the community. Everybody goes to the school and plays. There are tons of kids who don’t go to our school who hang out there,” she said. “Everyone can enjoy it. It will be a green space in the middle of the city.”
If you’d like to help out with the project at Lord Kelvin school, contact Wittig at [email protected].
Celebrating grandparents
The City of New Westminster proclaimed Sept. 13 to 19 Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Week.
Mayor Jonathan Cote read out the proclamation at the Aug. 31 city council meeting at Anvil Centre.
“We deeply appreciate that the mayor of New Westminster is recognizing the vital contribution of grandparents raising their grandchildren,” Carol Ann Madsen, the society’s executive director, said in a press release.
Parent Support Services Society of B.C. is holding its first Grandparents Day Stroll on Sunday, Sept. 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at River Market at Westminster Quay. The event, which will raise funds for programs supporting grandparents raising grandchildren and other diverse families, includes entertainment, information tents, a screening of the documentary Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: Telling Our Stories, and more.
“This is going to be a great day, an exciting opportunity for all folks to come and celebrate their grandparents,” Madsen said.
According to Parent Support Services Society of B.C., it’s estimated that more than 11,000 children in B.C. are being raised by their grandparents. The group said the proclamation is recognition for the important role grandparents play in kids’ lives.
Parent Support Services Society of B.C. is a registered non-profit organization that provides parenting support, advocacy, research and education for people in a parenting role.
“On our support line, we hear that children raised by their grandparents have often experienced trauma caused by parental death, incarceration, addictions, mental illness, abandonment, abuse or neglect,” said support line advocate Christina Campbell. “These children may have also witnessed family violence and experienced removal from their home.”
Dennis Nkojo, a support line advocate, points out grandparents, and other kinship caregivers, can provide a much-needed stable, loving family environment.
Send Around Town ideas to Theresa at [email protected].
