Festival of Trees lights up Harrowsmith PS

Dec 16, 2010

Photo Left: Ms Mayhew's grade 3 class at Harrowsmith PS with their “Tweet Tree”.

For the past four years students at Harrowsmith Public School have been participating in their annual Festival of Trees event, a holiday fundraiser aimed at raising money and food donations for the local community. For school principal Jim Horan, “It's a wonderful opportunity for our students to come together to help those who are less fortunate in South Frontenac.”

Revell Ford Lincoln of Verona sponsored the event and supplied the trees, which each class then decorated. The trees were raffled off on Dec. 10 and all proceeds will go to the local Southern Frontenac Community Services Corporation’s food bank, and the local Free Methodist and United Churches.

Grade eight students play a big part in the fund raising and each year they canvas door-to-door in Harrowsmith for donations. According to Mr. Horan, “The response this year was truly overwhelming. This year we received more food than we have ever received before.”

On Dec. 8 the entire school was invited to the gym where student ambassadors Emily Kellett and Regina Austin emceed the inaugural first day of the event. They invited School Trustee Suzanne Ruttan to launch the three-day festival by lighting up the first tree. She was joined by OPP Staff Sgt. Gary Oullette, who thanked the students for their efforts.

Each class then had a chance to introduce their themed tree to the whole school and this year’s themes were both clever and imaginative. They included a Tweet Tree decorated with edible bird treats, the Adam and Eve tree decorated with real apples, and the Merry Mousemas tree decorated with candy cane-tailed felt mice.

The celebration included a performance by the school’s grade 1, 2 choir and a carol sing-a-long led by Queens University teacher candidates.

The event is not only a way to raise funds for those in need but also a way of bringing the entire school and local community together in a celebration of holiday giving and sharing.

Mr. Horan wishes to thank Revell Ford and the Revell family for their ongoing support as the event’s corporate partner and the OPP, who is the event’s community partner.