Funding win has schools excited to put monies to good use

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on June 21, 2023.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Father Leonard Van Tighem School was selected to receive $10,000 from the KidoodlED Million Dollar School Giveaway among eight other schools from the Holy Spirit Catholic School Division.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

A born-and-raised Lethbridgian is giving back to his hometown through the KidoodlED Million Dollar School Giveaway, by giving thousands of dollars to schools in the Holy Spirit Catholic School Division.

Neil Gruninger, president of A Parent Media Co. Inc (APMC), said Kidoodle.TV’s mission is to provide safe and engaging content for young audiences.

“With the KidoodlED Million Dollar School Giveaway, we have the opportunity to extend our impact beyond the screen and into the classrooms of deserving schools across Canada and the United States,” said Gruninger.

He said he and the organization believe in the power of education to shape the future, and they are excited to support schools in their mission to enrich the lives of their students.

“I am especially thrilled that we have so much support from my hometown and to see them benefit from this initiative,” said Gruninger.

Nine schools from the Holy Spirit Catholic School Division were selected to each win $10,000, with Father Leonard Van Tighem School and St. Francis Junior High School among them.

Associate principal of FLVT, Laurie Campmans, said they were extremely pumped to find out they were one of the recipients.

“We plan to use the money to purchase some equipment to enhance our physical education option and extracurricular programming, as well as to use the funds for student and staff initiatives which will be announced this upcoming year,” said Campmans.

She said students provided their ideas on how they would use the money if they were to win and created a video that was submitted to the contest.

“And then our parents and community at large voted, and then we were chosen, so we’re super pumped about that,” said Campmans.

She said they were also very happy to know eight more schools within the division were chosen.

“We’re glad so many schools in our division received funding, as it’s definitely a time in education where we could all use those extra funds, because there has been some cutbacks.” Acting associate principal of SFJH, Kristen Mazzuca, said they were also excited to be selected to receive $10,000.

“We’re very excited because we knew that $10,000 would make a huge impact in our school and our students’ lives,” said Mazzuca.

“We decided to go around to our students and ask them what they would do with $10,000, so over a week we went and interviewed multiple students and we got their ideas of what they would like to see improved within our school.”

She said they encouraged everyone to vote, and they were successful.

“Our students really wanted to win because they knew the difference that this money could make, and so when we found out that we had finally won we were ecstatic.”

Mazzuca said they will decide how to spend the money after talking to students and staff.

“There’s never enough money in education, unfortunately. There’s never a time where we’re like, we have enough money, everything is great. Unfortunately we’re always looking for more money and especially because we are a very old school.”

She said the school has never been modernized and students can feel that when they walk around the school, so they are constantly looking for different grants and different ways to get money that would provide upgrades to the school.

“We are extremely grateful to KidoodlED, because its initiatives like this that provide these opportunities for our students, because no matter what this money goes into, it’s going to make the lives better for the students who attend here.”

The other schools that received $10,000 are Children of St. Martha School, École St. Mary School, Our Lady of the Assumption School, St. Teresa of Calcutta School, St. Joseph School in Coaldale, St. Mary’s School in Taber, and St. Michael’s School in Bow Island.

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