Let Them Be Kids

Let Them Be Kids is an all volunteer, non-profit organization created to build community capacity on the grassroots level, while building playgrounds, skate parks and fitness parks across Canada. These projects leave a legacy of community members who are inspired and better equipped to lay a strong foundation for a brighter tomorrow.

St. John Catholic Elementary School in Perth is a proud recipient of a 2010 Let Them Be Kids "Believe" Award! Every dollar raised by our community will be matched by Let Them Be Kids
to build a much needed playground at St. John's!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Local Realtors Make St. John's Students Smile!

Here is yet another example of the great community spirit which is alive in Perth!


On Saturday, April 17, realtors from Royal LePage-Pauline Aunger Real Estate Brokerage hosted an open house at their office at 73 Gore Street East in Perth. To help celebrate the open house, these Royal Lepage real estate agents cooked up a yummy BBQ with all proceeds going to the St. John's Playground! Perthites and visitors had the chance to enjoy some lunch and cake for dessert, visit with the realtors, and check out the many local house listings available in the Perth area.

Michelle Fournier of Royal Lepage organized the event, and a total of $250 was raised to help St. John's students have an amazing play experience in our new school yard, which will be transformed this May! St. John's thanks our local Pauline Aunger Royal Lepage realtors for supporting our kids!



Royal Lepage realtors and BBQ hosts extraordinaire!
From left to right: real estate agents Brian Cavanagh, Pauline Aunger, Michelle Fournier, Jeffrey Weir, Sheri D'Aoust, Ivan Hodgins and Jennifer Aunger show their commitment to helping in their community!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Perth Community Helps St. John's Achieve Fundraising Goal!

St. John's Catholic Elementary School is thrilled to announce that it has met its fundraising goal of $51,000 to build its new playground for our students on Build Day - this coming Saturday, May 29th!

A heartfelt THANK YOU to all St. John'sschool families, St. John's parish members, local service clubs, businesses, community associations and individuals, who made generous donations to help meet the goal of providing the students with an amazing outdoor play yard.

We began our fundraising campaign in January, 2010, with high hopes and big dreams for our children! Within 90 days, the Perth community generously responded, and together, we have met our goal of raising $51,000 to transform the St. John's school yard! 

Below, are two of the generous donors, who contributed to meeting the school's goal: 

 Photo courtesy of The Perth Courier
Local realtor, Michelle Fournier of Royal Lepage, is thanked by St. John's teacher Andrea Cunningham, for Michelle's generous donation to improving the school yard, while Michelle's children, Mackenzie and Brody smile for the camera!



 Photo courtesy of The Perth Courier
St. John's Playground Committee Member, Brenda Noonan, and her daughter, Grace, gratefully accepted a generous cheque from John Gemmell, an executive member of the Perth Royal Canadian Legion Branch 244.

God bless everyone for your generosity and let's continue to work alongside one another as we prepare for Build Day!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Perth Community Contributes $14,000 in One Week!

As we come into the final stretch of fundraising for St. John Elementary School's brand new playground, we continue to be amazed at how our school families, parishioners, neighbours and Perth service clubs continue to be generous and join so many others in making the kids' dream of a new school yard a reality! 

In the past seven days, St. John's students have received $14,000 in local donations from individuals and events! Absolutely amazing!

This past weekend, St. John Elementary hosted a huge fundraising dance, headlined by the amazing band Tailgate, which raised $8,000 for the playground. This fundraiser, coupled with generous donations from organizations like our parish's Catholic Women's League, the school's favourite pizzeria (Jersey Joe's!), and the fabulous Perth Firefighters' Association, helps bring us closer to our goal! 

Furthermore, extra fundraising events, such as St. John Catholic High School's popular dress-down day on a recent Friday, helped to raise $911.72! Thank you high school students for being role models to your younger SJ friends and giving back to your larger school community! 

As well, St. John's Elementary junior students hosted a bake sale last week, which raised a whopping $1,000.75. Thank you to all who enjoyed the sale's brownies and cookies, and to the many parents and teachers who baked late into the night to help make the bake sale fundraising a great success!

Below are this week's generous donors, who helped us have our biggest fundraising week since January:

St. John's Catholic Women's League
David & Angel Burke
Perth Firefighters Assoc
Lori McParland
Mark & Erin Monker
Dale & Jeanne Nugent
Greg & Terry Bowes
Jo Bali & Dominic Richens
Marie Kirkwood
Kevin & Nancy Jordan
Greg & Laurie McNally
Jennifer & Tyson Sweeney
Murray Blair
SJ Elementary junior students' bake sale
SJ Catholic High School casual day donation
Cooper Family cabinet raffle ticket sales
SJ Tailgate fundraising dance

Monday, April 12, 2010

Fundraising Dance a Huge Success!

St. John's Elementary hosted a dance on Saturday night to raise funds for our new playground. The turn-out was great and a fun time was had by all! The band, Tailgate, which includes former St. John's students, Cheryl (Adrain) Dermann and Brian (Doc) Timmins, was unbelieveable! The dance floor was packed and the music was rockin'! Tailgate helped make a great party even better! 

The Silent Auction was a success with almost 100 items donated and lots of competition among the many bidders! By the time the night was over, more than $8,000 had been raised to help build the students of St. John's a brand new school yard! Thanks to all those who attended for showing your support and community spirit!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

SJ Father Shows His Children How It's Done!

Tyler Shaw understands the importance of being a role model to his young children. 

When St. John's Elementary decided to raise funds to transform our school yard, Tyler, a future SJ dad of little Maggie and Marcie Shaw, rolled up his sleeves - literally! 

Tyler is a skilled, friendly mechanic who works at Mark Noonan Automotive in Dewitts Corners near Perth. Earlier this year, Tyler decided he wanted to make a financial contribution to the playground. To do this, he decided to work on a Saturday at K&M Automotive and donate his wages for the day. The end result was a generous $250 donation to the new SJ playground! Tyler's approach to doing his part was innovative and demonstrates to his kids that Dad believe it's important to contribute to his community. Plus, he was one of the first contributors to St. John's playground project!

Hopefully, someday soon, daughters Maggie and Marcie will enjoy playing on SJ's fabulous new playground, along with their fellow SJ students! Thanks Tyler!

Photo courtesy of EMC
 The Shaw and Adrain families have been great supporters of SJ's Playground Build! 
In addition to Tyler's contribution, his wife, Nancy, helped to organize the fundraising dance and will help lead the community garden builders team on Build Day. Her father, Bob Adrain, of Clement Printing has donated generously by printing posters and tickets to help with playground fundraisers. From left to right are: Louise Noonan, Maggie Shaw, Nancy Shaw, Bob Adrain of Clement Printing, Marcie Shaw and Declan Noonan.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Come to the Dance, Dance... wherever you may be!

REMINDER: get your dancing shoes shined!

Calling all parents, parishioners, alumni and Perth party-goers: This is our BIG fundraiser for the new SJ Playground, and the countdown is on!

St. John's Playground Committee is hosting a major fundraiser dance featuring great live music from Tailgate!

Friday, April 10, 2010
Farrell Hall, Perth
Dance from 8pm
Silent Auction from 8-10pm
Tickets $15 (in advance or at the door)

The fabulous Silent Auction will go for two hours, and the items are HOT HOT HOT! Bid on items donated from over 50 regional and local businesses and donors. The Perth area business community has been incredibly generous in offering goods to support SJ's kids, and we thank them! 

Please help support our playground fund. Your children will thank you!