Next Week is Volunteer Sign Up Week

Starting next week your Garibaldi PAC Exec team will be around Garibaldi with the Committee and Volunteer sign up table. Volunteering with a committee is a great way to get more involved in your child's education and help build the Garibaldi Community. Look for us during the Goal Setting Conferences or during drop-off  or pick-up.

This years committees are:

Fundraising Committee:

Are you ready to put the FUN into fundraising? The sky is the limit with this committee. Work with other creative and fun-loving minds to devise and execute fundraisers designed to raise money to enhance the lives of our children during their time at Garibaldi. Events could include a silent auction, a coffee house/talent
night, an adult only party at a local venue, equipment, tree, bench or building block sponsorship, or whatever ideas come to mind. Members would be asked to come up with a fundraising goal for the year (ie. How will the money raised during the year be used?) and speak with other parent volunteer committee members to listen to their needs for funds. The more the merrier for this committee!

Garden Committee:

Thanks to the hard work of some dedicated volunteers, the Garden is thriving. Members of this committee can be involved in general garden and compost maintenance (weeding, watering, planting and digging), shed building and maintenance, or even harvest celebrations. You don’t need a green thumb to volunteer for this committee!

Communication Committee:

There are a variety of ways to help out on this committee. Whether it is setting up email lists and phone trees for the classes, contributing to the school’s monthly newsletter documenting some of the Garibaldi events through the eyes of the families, sending reminders about upcoming PAC meetings or putting together a photo collection on a CD as a form of paperless yearbook, we can all benefit from communication. (P.S. This is a committee that you can potentially do from home if you find your time at the school is limited)

Movie Night Committee:

A Garibaldi fundraising favourite! Members of this committee would be required to determine the dates, times, and movie selection shown in the Garibaldi Library. Equipment such as a projector and screen are also needed and of course no movie would be complete without the popcorn. You may also consider rallying a group of movie goers to help you clean up at the end of the evening.

Hot Lunch Committee:

As busy families, we all welcome that one day per month when we realize that we can strike “make kids’ lunches” from our list of daily chores. Of course, this fun and easy fundraiser requires a group of dedicated adults to coordinate the event. Involvement in this committee might require you to make decisions on the sort of food provided for hot lunch, determine the cost to families, arrange for order forms to be sent home to Garibaldi families and for the food to be picked up and prepared for the students. And remember, hot lunch doesn’t have to mean hot dogs…healthy choices are encouraged!

Outdoors Committee:

Interested in doing group outdoor activities? This parent group will organize and lead afterschool and weekend outdoor activities like bike rides, hikes, cross country skiing, or whatever you are interested in. It is a great way to stay physically active in a social atmosphere.

Food and Health Committee:

This committee would strive to start and maintain a dialogue amongst all stakeholders – teachers, parents and the administration – to allow all to voice their particular concerns regarding the children’s food and nutrition at school.
Based on this dialogue, the committee would formulate some basic food policy as a guideline for our school community. This proposed policy would then be presented to the teachers, administration and the PAC for comments and after appropriate amendments for approval.
This policy would be a guideline only and non-binding to the stakeholders.

Media Relations and Advocacy Committee:

Over the past 5 years, parents and staff of the Garibaldi community have worked hard to ensure that the enrolment at the school has continued to increase with the ultimate goal of remaining open to serve the diverse needs of the surrounding community. Thanks to the Garibaldi Annex Implementation Team and the Garibaldi Action Committee, the school has not only grown in its regular school day program, it has added other partners including Frog Hollow, Vancouver Learning Network (VLN), Home Learners and Partners In Education (PIE). We need to ensure that the positive messages and continued growth plans are reaching the media and that through our voices and our written words the VSB continues to hear of our successes and reasons for keeping Garibaldi open for future generations.

Program Support:

Have you read or heard about programs in our community that could enhance our children’s learning experiences at the school? Perhaps you or someone you know can be a guest to help out with a special unit in Science, Creative Writing or Physical Education or you know of a program to introduce the students to the wonders of cooking or the arts. Perhaps you would like to become a “class parent” who is available to help your child’s teacher arrange parent drivers for field trips or help decorate the classroom for a special theme or party. Work with the school staff and within the PAC budget to bring these new and unique experiences to the school.

Library Committee:

What a peaceful way to spend a couple of hours per week, sorting through books in a quiet space. Or perhaps you would like to offer your talent as a guest reader? VP Ms. Lorraine Baker is hoping to find a small number of volunteers who would like to support our school Library this year. If this idea appeals to you please provide your contact information, a day / time that is most convenient for you to volunteer and a word or two about the type of volunteer experience you would prefer to offer (shelving, reading, creating seasonal displays, etc.)

Sustainability committee:

This brand new committee would work to foster community involvement both within the school and with the surrounding community. Suggestions from parents have included setting up a book lending library, student bike share, clothing swap, potlucks, zero-waste lunches, and furthering the work of last year’s school recycling committee. Volunteers are needed to shape the direction of the school’s sustainability stewardship, and to help keep environmental and social responsibility fun.