Thunder News Flash – October 12, 2019

As we gather with family and friends to give thanks for all of the blessings that we have, we wish each and every one of you a very wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.  Here is a Thanksgiving Day Table Prayer that you might want to share with your family this year:

O Gracious God, we give you thanks for your overflowing generosity to us.  Thank you for the blessings of the food we eat and especially for this feast today.  Thank you for our home and family and friends, especially for the presence of those gathered here.  Thank you for our health, our work and our play.  Please send help to those who are hungry, alone, sick and suffering war and violence.  Open our hearts to your love.  We ask your blessing through Christ your son.  Amen.

As we gather with family and friends and enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving Day meal this weekend, we are mindful that there are many people who are not nearly as fortunate as we are.  In Abbotsford there are many migrant workers who work very hard, usually on farms, to send money to support their families back home in their native country.  This is a hard life and it must be so difficult to be separated from their families, especially at times like Thanksgiving.  We would like to help support the migrant workers in Abbotsford by collecting nonperishable food items to donate to them through St. Ann’s Parish.  The more food we collect for the migrant workers, the less money they will have to spend on groceries, meaning they will have more money to send home to their families.  What an amazing impact our donations can have on the migrant workers in Abbotsford and their families thousands of kilometres away.  We will be collecting these nonperishable food items at the school from October 15th – October 24th and hope to collect enough food to create a pile the size of a mountain in our hallway – a Mountain of Miracles!  So, as you enjoy so many blessings this weekend, think of those less fortunate and help us build that mountain.

Thank you to Pablo Longoria who helped to sort out the problems with our Library management system.  It is back up and running, and the students may once again check in and out Library books.

By now you should have received proofs of your child’s school picture.  If you are unhappy with your child’s photograph, if your child was absent on picture day or if you are new to the school since picture day, our retake day will occur on Friday, October 18th.  If you are having a retake, please send your child to school with the proofs to return to the photographer.  It is always a good idea to let the photographer know what you are unhappy about with the proofs that you received, and for younger students sending a note would be ideal.  It is also helpful to let the teacher know through a note in your child’s agenda that they are getting retakes, as the younger students are often not aware that they need to get their picture taken again. 

On Thursday, October 24th, St. James & St. Ann’s School, St. John Brebeuf High School and St. Ann’s Family Group will be jointly hosting a very special screening of the movie Screenagers.  The parents whose children are in the intermediate grades at our school received a letter regarding this movie, as their attendance at this screening is mandatory to fulfill their obligation to attend a Parent Support Meeting.  However, since this is such a well done movie and it is important for all of us to see, we are opening up this screening to all school parents, grandparents and teenagers as well.  Screenagers is an award-winning film that probes into the vulnerable corners of family life and depicts messy struggles over social media, video games and academics.  Screenagers reveals how tech time impacts kids’ development and offers solutions on how adults can empower kids to best navigate the digital world and find balance.  

The movie will be shown in the gymnasium at St. John Brebeuf High School starting at 7:00pm and a facilitated discussion will follow the movie.  Light refreshments will be served and babysitting is available for children ages 5 and up.  If you require babysitting, please email St. Ann’s Family group by clicking here so that arrangements can be made.  If you plan to attend this screening, please RSVP to help us plan for this event by clicking here.  If you do not RSVP you may still attend the event.  Please note that while it is free to attend the screening of the movie Screenagers, your donations at the door will be greatly appreciated to help us cover the costs of this presentation.

Our next Work Bee will take place on Saturday, October 19th from 9:00am – 2:00pm.  If you are signed up to attend this Work Bee, or are coming to make up some hours, please bring a rake, cordless blower or any other small gardening tools that you have to help with some outside work.  We appreciate all that you do to make our school look good on the inside and the outside!

The next time you are washing your child’s uniform items, particularly their sweater, please check the label to make sure that the uniform pieces you have at home are in fact your child’s.  A few uniform pieces that are labelled with the child’s name have gone missing, and they are not in the Lost and Found.  Uniforms are a wonderful thing, until something goes missing, as they all look alike!

Our newly elected REC members are Tasha Mijinke, representing St. Ann’s Parish, and Marcus Van Noort, representing St. James Parish.  Thank you to all those candidates that stood for election.  Your support of our school is very much appreciated.

Announcing our new REC members:

St. Ann’s:  Tasha Mijinke and Chris McKinnon

St. James:  Marcus Van Noort and Chris Andrew

St. Joseph’s:  Tina Girard and Hannah Traub

Sts. Joachim and Ann:  vacant

We are still looking for two parishioners from Sts. Joachim and Ann to fill the remaining seats on the Regional Education Committee (REC) of our school.  Parishioners do not need to have children at the school to be eligible.  If you, or someone you know, is interested, please contact Chris by clicking here.

The REC represents the Board of Directors of the CISVA and assists the Pastor and the Principal in the operation of the school by setting local school policies, and ensuring that the policies of the CISVA are followed.  The effectiveness of our school is strengthened by clergy and lay people working together with faith and commitment for the education of our young people.  Please consider your practice of stewardship by serving as a member of the REC at St. James & St. Ann’s School.

Most Parent Participation (PP) Task Groups are in full swing by now, and each school family should be well on their way to accumulating at least 10 of their 20 PP task group hours before the end of January (not including their fundraiser commitment).

Please remember it is up to each family to log these hours as soon as they are done on the school’s PP portal to receive credit.  No hours recorded = no hours credited = PP cheques cashed.  The link to the PP portal can be found at the end of this newsletter or on the school’s website.  If you are unsure of your login/password information, please email Marilyn by clicking here.

The Regional Education Committee would just like to remind all school families that parent participation task group and fundraiser helpers must be at least 16 years of age to be able to earn hours for the purposes of Parent Participation.  Children who are under the age of 16 are not eligible to earn hours for Parent Participation.

If you are still unsure of which task group you are with or have any questions, please contact the Parent Participation Administrator by clicking here as soon as possible.

On October 31st the Leadership Team is encouraging students to come to school dressed for Halloween.  Please note that costumes may not include masks, weapons or blood/gore, and should not be too scary.  We encourage the students to come dressed in costumes that reflect heroes, careers, a positive character from a book or movie, or their favourite saint, etc.  There will be costume judging, sock hops at recess for the primary students and at lunch for the intermediate students, and we will be watching the movie Nanny McPhee after lunch.  After Halloween, students are encouraged to sort through the candy that they have collected, and donate the extras to NightShift.  We will be collecting this extra candy at the school from November 4th – 6th in each classroom.  More information will follow in the News Flash in the future.

On November 1st we will be celebrating All Saints Day, and will attend Mass at St. James Church at 9:00am led by the Grade 4 class.  The students are encouraged to come to school dressed as their patron or favourite saint.  It would be very helpful if the students could wear a badge or sticker identifying the saint they are dressed as.  It will be wonderful for the Church to be filled with a visual reminder of what we all aspire to be one day – a saint!

Come and watch Toy Story 4 on our big 16×9 Movie Screen on Friday, October 18th in the school gym.  Doors & Concession open at 5:30pm and the movie starts at 6:00pm.

$5 per person or $25 per family.  An info package was sent home last week with all the details, including how you could win the VIP couch seating area!  Please click here to see the info package.

For a movie review from a Christian perspective, please click here or click here.  Please note the movie is rated G in Canada.

Thank you to our Sponsor:  Westlynn Meats & Seafood!

Sponsorship opportunities are still available.  Please click here for more info.