They raised the money to build playgrounds, now the province is paying them back.
Two Parent Advisory Councils in Prince George, one at Heritage elementary school and one at cole Lac des Bois, have been reimbursed $30,497 as part of a $2.4 million fund to cover purchases of playground equipment.
The Heritage PAC received $15,956, while $14,541 was given to the PAC at cole Lac des Bois.
Elena Thomas, playground chair and PAC treasurer at cole Lac des Bois, was delighted to learn the funding had been approved when The Citizen contacted her Wednesday afternoon. Until then, she thought their provincial funding had been denied.
"The last we heard on Monday was all the money was gone, so we assumed we didn't get anything," said Thomas. "That was the rumour flowing out at the DPAC meeting. They had heard the money was all gone, so don't bother applying for more money. But only the school district is allowed to apply for the program, and our school district applied on our
behalf."
The playground reimbursement fund is part of an $8 million two-year program announced in September by Premier Christy Clark to fund new playgrounds, and pay for upgrades, repairs and replacement of existing playground equipment. Schools that bought adventure-type playgrounds using PAC funds since Jan. 1, 2011 are eligible for the program.
The money at cole Lac des Bois was enough to cover the cost of four swings, the pea gravel that covers the ground and the border around the swing area.
Thomas said the money her PAC will get back from the province and proceeds from a raffle in February will be used for a $35,000 project to buy and install a set of monkey bars.
The school hopes to add that feature to the existing swing set, slide and climbing structure.
School District 57 provided a small playground this year during the summer when cole Lac des Bois, the former Lakewood junior secondary school, was converted into an elementary school.
"We have all-day kindergarten so the kids spend a lot of time on the playground equipment," said Thomas.
