“No one says no to Lisa”, according to Helen Nicholls at the Windmill Cafe in Toora. Well at least no one it would seem, that Lisa Kuyk approaches to donate a prize for the latest Welshpool Primary School mega raffle.
“It’s a big process and there’s only 32 kids, so just over 20 families and we do have quite a few mums that put a lot of effort in”, Lisa explains.
With government funding stretched, schools and parents have increasingly had to look elsewhere for funding for all kinds of school equipment from text books to basketball court upgrades.
“Gabby (Boyd) our principal is amazing”, Lisa says, “she goes looking and finds lots of grants for all sorts of things but with the likes of the court, we’ll speak to her, find out what’s required and we’ll bust ourselves trying to achieve it”.
The new basketball court, opened in September, took four years of funding to gather the required $30,000 needed to complete the job.
This year’s Christmas Mega Raffle kicks off the next funding round for an outdoor learning and inclusion space. “It’s a spot where if kids need more of a one on one session with staff or a bit of space away from others, they can go there and have some timeout from the hustle and bustle of the classroom”, explained Lisa.
“I started requesting donations in August, because we wanted to get a big list together and print off the tickets and start selling them”, Lisa told us. And what a list it is: 55 donations from businesses and individuals make up the prize list. Tickets can be bought from local businesses at $2 each or $20 for a book of 10 and will be on sale until Monday, December 8 with the draw held at the school Christmas party on Monday 17. David Barrett
