Helping those in need

Times Reporter

 

Support has been flowing in since news broke of a fire that gutted the Arrowwood School on April 20. Since the fire classes have been held at the Arrowwood Community Centre.  

“It was quite devastating,” said Principal Jody Beagle. 

“From the outside it looks pretty good, but they’re actually having to gut the entire inside of it. They’re not able to salvage very much at all. They figure what was in the basement, inside of kind of a cement kind of vaulted room, and basically it’s all our Christmas concert things.”

There is an older section of the school built in 1959, and a newer section built in the ‘60s with double doors separating them. The fire burned up to the double doors, destroying the office and foyer, and after the double doors it’s the smoke damage and carcinogen that caused the rest of the damage. 

Help and support have been coming in from all over, and here in Strathmore people are encouraged to help out as well. 

The news hit a little close to home for former teacher Treena Wade. Wade has a number of friends who are teachers that have worked at the school, including one who is a former principal of the school. 

“I’ve worked in the education field for a number of years, so obviously I know how much of a need there is and what is required in the daily operation of a classroom. It was a relatively simple thing that a person could do in order to help out,” said Wade. 

Wade has spoken to the King Eddy and Strathmore Pawn and Collectables to be locations where people can donate items for the school. 

Beagle said some of the specific items the schools are looking for now are bookshelves and mini filing cabinets. They are also looking for chairs for the reading centres, and area rugs in good condition, which can be used for Grades 1-4 students. Educational games and mini white boards, like the ones that can be bought at the dollar store are other items needed, and of course books. 

“Always books, trying to fill up a whole library again in a school on top of classroom libraries that most teachers had anywhere up to 500 different books in their classrooms for kids to pull from, because we have quite an extensive reading program,” said Beagle. 

“Honestly the private ECS is one that could really use donations as well of gently used toys, little play centres and things like that. They could sure use that because they have lost everything inside their kindergarten.”

“People have been amazing, all the way from Regina to Calgary to Medicine Hat kinds of three points and everything in the middle. We’ve gotten lots of binders and pens and pencils for the kids. They’re established again which is wonderful.”

The Calgary Catholic School Board donated six portable trailers to Arrowwood, with the first one arriving May 1. Within the next three weeks the students should be moving into the portable classrooms. It’s expected that it may take until Nov. 1 before the students can more into the new building. 

A 20-year-old Siksika man has been arrested and is accused of setting a number of fires in the Village of Arrowwood.