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| A grade 5 student presenting a gift to one of the school’s volunteers |
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 even organize larger school events such as the Annual School Tea, the Annual Fund Raising Dinner, and the Family Picnic.
To celebrate the efforts of these hard working volunteers, IHMS held a ???Volunteer Appreciation??? program on Thursday, April 18th from 2:00 ??? 4:30 pm in the school gym. The theme of the event was ???At IHMS Volunteers Plant Seeds of Kindness???.
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| About 20 volunteers attended the Volunteer Appreciation Reception |
Since volunteering is a requirement for enrolment at IHMS, invitations to the event were sent out to every family in the school. (Note: Parents who choose not to volunteer are responsible for paying a $350.00 ???non-volunteer fee??? at the beginning of the school year).
The program began at 2:00 pm with a greeting by Mr. Picklyk and a prayer by Sr. Anne.
The grade 5 and 6 Girl’s Performing Group then sang an Easter Hymn.
Greetings were also conveyed on behalf of the students by Michael K. (the student council president), and on behalf of the staff by Mr. Crooks, the school???s vice-principal.
This year, the grade 2, 4, 6, and 8 classes prepared either a poem, song, or skit for the Volunteer Appreciation program.
Grade 2: Read a poem entitled “Volunteers Plant Seeds of Kindness” and sang a song entitled “Thanks a Lot”
Grade 4: Performed a Volunteer Acrostic
Grade 6: Read a poem entitled “A Toast”
Grade 8: Performed a “Volunteer Cheer”
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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 package of seeds. |
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| Mrs. Wittevrongel coordinated the creation and distribution of the gifts |
After the presentation of the gifts, everyone sang ???Mnohiya Lita??? before the students were dismissed back to their classes.
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| Students singing ???Mnohiya Lita??? to the volunteers |
The volunteers remained behind to socialize with each other at a reception in the gym, hopefully feeling acknowledged and appreciated.
