The Prince Albert Catholic School Division takes part each year in the Toonies for Tuition campaign.
This year they have taken home both the provincial trophy for Saskatchewan, and the highest school board/division plaque for raising the most money per capita based on full time enrollment in Canada.
At the board of education’s regular meeting on Monday, director of education Lorel Trumier presented board chair Suzanne Stubbs with the plaque to symbolize the win.
“We are very grateful to our students, staff, and our families for contributing to that Toonies for Tuition endeavor, which really tries to support tuition for students in provinces where publicly funded education is not available to them,” Trumier said.
At the board’s regular meeting on May 27, CFO Greg McEwen reported that the campaign raised $6,526.63. This was an improvement over the $5,777.04 that was raised last year.
Individually, St. Anne School raised $1,332, St. John raised $700, St. Michael raised $359, St. Catherine raised $449, St. Francis raised $971.15, Ecole St. Mary High School raised $1,580.30 and Holy Cross raised $742.98. Trustees themselves donated $400, and the rest of the donations came from teachers, parents, and division-wide fundraisers.
“Obviously in our province we are very fortunate (to have publicly funded Catholic education),” Trumier said. “(Students) do different things like bubblegum days or hat days or things like that to support the Toonies for Tuition campaign.”
The initiative began in 2011 and was spearheaded in Canada by former trustee Albert Provost, who recently passed away.
The goal is to raise two dollars per student in the division for the endowment fund of the Canadian Catholic School Trustees Association.
In May, Trumier said she was pleased to see that the division hit the Toonie goal for the year.
The board approves the fundraiser annually. Many families in Canada need to pay tuition to attend Catholic schools. The CCSTA through the Toonies for Tuition Endowment Fund alleviates the burden on these families who live in provinces where Catholic education has limited or no public funding.
Every Catholic school division fundraised for the initiative in 2024 to help bring the Catholic education experience to students who may not have this opportunity.
Prince Albert Catholic previously won the trophy from 2011 to 2017 and in 2022. The province of Saskatchewan also won the provincial trophy from 2011 to 2017.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
