Andrew Hunter GoFundMe Life Skills Program

Supporting Further Education

Massive thanks to Glenn from  Lake Simcoe Heating &Air Conditioning Ltd for donating $500!

Link help the Andrew Hunter GoFundMe Life Skills Program https://www.gofundme.com/andrew-hunter-life-skills-program

My name is Ashley MacDonald and I am a special education teacher at Andrew Hunter Elementary School. I have created this GoFundMe page to help fundraise for my class!

I have 10 special needs students in my class that would love to learn more than I can teach within my classroom. We are hoping to fundraise enough money to purchase monthly bus passes for each of our students.

The specific program that our school requires support for is our special education life skills program. I am looking to develop a program that will allow my students to learn life skills, vocational skills and give back to the community.

The school is located in a low socioeconomic area. The student population relies heavily on the nutrition program to remain properly nourished. My class completes most of the shopping for our school nutrition program. Each week my class takes the city bus to a local grocery store to purchase the food that supports the nutritional needs of our student population. This weekly trip teaches our students how to ride a bus, check a bus schedule, shop for healthy foods and learn some job readiness skills. Although this program alone is an excellent opportunity for my students, I would like to broaden their skill sets even more. I would like to take them to volunteer at various organizations in our community. This not only provides the students with vocational skills education, it also allows the students to give back to community members in need.

In addition to our involvement in shopping and community support programs, I would like to take my students out once a month on a local field trip. The majority of our students have limited exposure beyond our neighbourhood. This has resulted in limited geographical knowledge, as well as a lack of life skills that many take for granted – such as riding in an elevator or on an escalator. In terms of safety, this means as the students transition into adulthood, many will not have the ability to navigate their own community safely.

Link help the Andrew Hunter GoFundMe Life Skills Program https://www.gofundme.com/andrew-hunter-life-skills-program

I would like to provide them with as many learning opportunities as I can. I cannot teach the life skills and vocational skills they need within the four walls of my classroom. The barrier is the affordability of transportation. I am unable to book a school bus for each event, as the cost is much too high and it does not teach the students how to navigate public transportation. Furthermore, the cost for each student to take the city bus $3/ride or $66/ month.  A monthly bus pass would be ideal for the students, so that we could utilize the bus system as much as necessary. For our 2 teachers and 10 students this would cost $2640.00 ($66 x 10 students x 4 remaining school months). This is unaffordable. Therefore, I require funding to support the transportation needs of my class so that they may learn much needed life and vocational skills.

Link help the Andrew Hunter GoFundMe Life Skills Program https://www.gofundme.com/andrew-hunter-life-skills-program

We are grateful for any donations! Thank you very much for supporting our students and their life skill education!