Volunteer Appreciation Reception

 

A  student presenting a gift to one of the school’s volunteers

 

Parent volunteers are one of the most important resources a school can have. Both public and private schools depend heavily on their volunteers to keep things running smoothly, but because private schools enjoy less government funding than public schools, they perhaps have a greater appreciation for the assistance that parent volunteers provide.

 

Parent volunteers have always been an important part of the successful operation of IHMS. Among other things, parent volunteers provide rides to field trips, organize hot lunches (such as hot-dog day), coach some of the school’s sports teams, help out with Bingo, and organize some of the larger school events such as the Annual School Tea, the Annual Fund Raising Dinner, and the Family Picnic.

 

 

 

Why Volunteer?
As stated on the 2017- 2018 “School Volunteer Form”, families attending Immaculate Heart of Mary School are encouraged to volunteer and fund raise for two reasons:
  1. To build community within the school
  2. To raise funds for the school to keep tuition rates as low as possible
Note: Parents who choose not to volunteer are responsible for paying a $375.00 “non-volunteer fee” at the beginning of the school year.

 

 

To celebrate the efforts of these hard working volunteers, IHMS held a “Volunteer Appreciation” program on Thursday, April 20th from 2:00 – 4:30 pm in the school gym. The theme of the event was “IHMS Volunteers Measure Up”. Since volunteering is a requirement for enrolment at IHMS, invitations to the event were sent out to every family in the school.

 

 Students, teachers, and about a dozen parent and grandparent volunteers gathered in the gym at 2:00 p.m. for the “Volunteer Appreciation” program. 

 

 

The program began at 2:00 pm with a greeting and a thank-you to the volunteers from the school’s principal, Mr. Picklyk, followed by an opening prayer.

 

Mr. Picklyk, the school’s principal, was the MC for the Volunteer Appreciation Program

 

Thank you messages were also conveyed on behalf of the students by Myles C., the student council president, and on behalf of the staff by Mr. Trochanowski, the school’s vice-principal.

 

 
Student council president Myles C. (top photo) conveyed gratitude to the parent volunteers on behalf of the students of IHMS, and Mr. Trochanowski, the school’s vice-principal did the same thing on behalf of the staff of IHMS (bottom two photos).

 

Students also played a direct role in the Volunteer Appreciation Program. Every year, either the odd or the even numbered grades are responsible for putting together a short presentation to thank the parent volunteers for their efforts. Since this was a year for even numbered grades, the grade 2, 4, 6, and 8 classes either sang a song or recited a poem, or found some other way of saying “thank you” to the parent volunteers.

  • The grade 2 students recited a poem entitled “Volunteers Plant the Seeds of Kindness”
  • The grade 4 students recited a poem entitled “A Toast”
  • The grade 6 students listed the reasons for their gratitude in “A Volunteer Measuring Tape”
  • The grade 8 students played “Volunteer Family Feud”

 

The grade 2 students recited “Volunteers Plant the Seeds of Kindness”
 .
The grade 4 students recited and acted out “A Toast”
 .
 The grade 6 students recited their gratitude in “A Volunteer Measuring Tape”
 .
The grade 8 students played “Volunteer Family Feud”

 

 

 
A special feature of this year’s volunteer appreciation reception was the copper tooling display set up at the back of the gym. The display, which was set up for viewing shortly before the volunteer appreciation program began, featured the completed high relief copper images that the K-8 students created as a part of their Ukrainian Week activities.
 ….Click here to view the copper tooling display

 

 

Near the end of the program, two students from each class presented a small gift to all the volunteers. The gifts are different every year, and this year’s gift was a small custom made tape measure and level inscribed with the message “IHMS Volunteers Measure Up”.
A grade 8 student posing with the this year’s volunteer appreciation gift (top photo), and a student presenting one of these gifts to a parent volunteers (bottom photo).

 

After the presentation of the gifts, everyone sang “Mnohiya Lita” before the students were dismissed back to their classrooms.

 

The students sang “Mnohiya Lita” to the parents before heading back to their classrooms

 

Parent volunteers remained behind in the gym to enjoy a light snack of catered food and drink.

 

 The volunteers seemed to enjoy the food platters prepared by Naleway Caterers

 

 

Back To Top