ARTHUR – St. John Catholic School in Arthur recently reached out to the Blessings Thrift and Gift Store in Palmerston, asking for help in enhancing its outdoor learning and activity environment. “Many of our families are experiencing undue hardship this year and are struggling to support their families, which is part of the reason we are reaching out to our community,” stated principal Stefanie Palmer.
Enhancements for the school yard include a sandbox, asphalt lines to indicate different play spaces such as hockey, four square, eight wedge, pickle ball, hopscotch, the alphabet and number grids.
MINTO – The 2023 Minto Fire and Ice Family New Year’s Eve Celebration was held on Dec. 31. The Palmerston-based Blessings to You Centre gave a donation of $3,810 to cover the costs of DJ Cody, the fire artists, blacksmithing demo, glitter tattoo artist and the Ice Queen and Ice Princess photo booth. The massive fireworks display was sponsored by the Town of Minto and Minto Fire. The firefighters also sponsored public skating at the event. The Blessings store is able to give back to the community due to “generous and ongoing donations,”store officials state.
From left: Blessings volunteers Ana Sluis and Jackie Hesselink present a cheque to Minto director of economic and community development Belinda Wick-Graham and Minto Fire Chief Chris Harrow. Submitted photo
