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The Sir Wilfrid Laurier Foundation has launched a fundraising lottery to improve school services, in which the grand prize will be a 2009 Volvo S60 worth nearly $41,000. Nine other prizes being offered by the non-profit group which raises money for schools run by the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board include Tag Heuer men's and ladies' watches, a $3,000 gift certificate from Voyage Vasco, a wine chiller, a Sony HD television, an Apple MacBook laptop, and $500 gift cards from Ultramar, IGA and the SAQ.
June 11 draw
Tickets cost $100 each, but only 1,315 have been printed, so participants will have one chance in 132 of winning any of the 10 prizes. The draw takes place on June 11 at the Château Royal. Proceeds will be going towards a career exploration lab and citizenship bursaries for graduating students in the SWLSB's youth and adult sectors. The 16-module lab will allow students to explore specific career areas and gain hands-on experience by carrying out small projects with industry-standard equipment. In addition, $10 from the sales proceeds of each ticket is going directly to the SWLSB's centres and schools.
"The idea of the lottery is to bring in money from your community, from people and businesses around your schools, and that's why we want the involvement of parents," François Ghali, chairman of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier Foundation, told a group of parents who were invited to a reception held for the lottery's launch last week at the school board's offices in Rosemère. "It's important for us to bring the parents closer to the foundation. This was my dream from the start — to bring in the parents, to involve them in the foundation."
Foundation has big plans
According to Ghali, the Sir Wilfrid Laurier Foundation, which was created four years ago, wants to do more in the future. "Why? Because the needs are there," he said. "We have volunteers and all the money we get from the community we put back in the schools. One of the projects we are working very hard on this year is a bursary program and we want to increase the bursary program … My message to you is we want you on board. We want you get involved in the foundation, not only for this lottery but in the longer term, and spread the word that we are trying to do something with the community for the schools."
While noting that the per-ticket amount of $10 going to each school "is not much," Ghali added, "we want to increase it eventually and we want to do much, much more. But the more the network is big, the easier the task." SWLSB chairman Steve Bletas confirmed afterwards that there are indeed plans to increase funding to the bursary program. "We want to increase the elementaries," he said. "We're looking for parents to become involved — parents who know other parents who have businesses — for them to be involved and to be part of this foundation. We're looking for communities and businesses around each community."
$250,000 raised in four years
Since its creation, the Sir Wilfrid Laurier Foundation has distributed more than $250,000 worth of resources to all the schools and centres in the SWLSB's jurisdiction. The funding has paid for 40 multimedia projectors in 2006 and 40 Smartboards in 2007. In 2008, the foundation contributed $50,000 for surveillance camera systems in all high schools and centres, and distributed more than 40 citizenship bursaries for graduating students.
Those seeking more information on the lottery or who wish to purchase tickets can contact Maxeen Jolin at (450) 621-5600, ext. 1385. Tickets can also be purchased by mailing a cheque to the SWL Foundation, 235 Montée Lesage, Rosemère (QC) J7A 4Y6, to the attention of Maxeen Jolin. You should also include your full address, daytime and evening telephone numbers, and which school your child attends. Cheques are also accepted through your school's secretary, who will forward it through internal mail. Tickets are also available at the reception desk of the school board's chief administrative centre.