Dodgeball for wildfire relief at Arthur A. Leach

The Arthur A. Leach School community has raised over $7,500 for Manitoba wildfire relief efforts. And they did it having some fun, playing dodgeball.

“At the end of May, our school community wanted to find a way to support the wildfire relief efforts.   Many students at the school come from the affected wildfire areas in northern Manitoba,” said Penny Riffel, Principal, Arthur A. Leach School. “Everyone wanted to show support to our community here and to their friends and families who were displaced from their homes due to the fires ravaging their communities.”

The Canadian Red Cross along with the federal and provincial governments announced that every dollar donated to the Manitoba Wildfire Appeal would be matched by both governments, so that any money raised would be tripled.

Jill Sutherland, a teacher at Arthur A. Leach, developed a plan to raise awareness of the devastation happening in our province and invite students to take action to help.  She organized an event combining fundraising and end-of-year fun for both staff and students. A group of students made posters and sold tickets, and all students were able to purchase tickets to enter a draw to be on their grade level dodgeball team against the staff, who were a mix of teachers, administration and educational assistants. The games were played over the lunch hour, and both sides gave it their all and had a lot of fun! The Red Cross created a dedicated donation page which allowed the wider school community to donate.

“We would like to thank David Pankrantz for his support, both as an MLA and as a dodgeball player,” said Riffel.  “We are pleased to share that once dodgeball ticket sales were combined with online donations, our total on the Red Cross website is over $7,500, which will be matched and tripled by government contributions!”

We wish all evacuees a safe and speedy return home, and we hope that our contribution will help support their journey.