Thanks
To My School John Paul College
I have another
section of the web site where I put info from school. I also have this link
to their fundraising help. The letter below is
from my headmaster Mr Steven Paul, and part of a letter sent to parents at
Easter and is a great summary of all the support my great school has given
me.
April 2002-
Letter
Dear Parents
and Friends of the College
Term 1 of
2002 has been a short and therefore busy term. As I said to the students at
the last assembly, when you have a lot of people doing a lot of things, then
it is bound to be busy. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
The last
assembly of this term was simply amazing. I can think of no other word. I
believe by now that most John Paul College family members would be familiar
with the story of Stanley Sclavos; with how his classmates, led by their
teacher Kathy Hicks, started fundraising with Stanley for fellow sufferers
of leukaemia; how this developed into an entry into the Westpac “Real
Ideals” competition; how they won this national competition and a trip to
Salt Lake City for the Winter Olympics; how Stanley’s condition deteriorated
and he was unable to accompany them on this trip; and finally, how Kos and
Effie Sclavos decided that Stanley’s best chance lay with treatment in New
York, with a bone marrow donation from his younger sister Nina, a Year 3
student at John Paul College.
This
treatment is obviously expensive and Kos and Effie have sold their business
and dedicated themselves to spending the next 6 months in New York with
Stanley so that he can receive the best possible treatment.
Three weeks
ago, I stood up at an assembly and put it to the students that, if they
raised $5000 to support the Sclavos family, a number of students and staff
would have their heads shaved on the final assembly. There was no shortage
of volunteers from either staff or students and the student fundraising
began in earnest. It involved car washes, stalls, blue Stanley ribbons
(raising over $2,500), raffles, straight donations, herograms to Stanley in
New York, lunch time concerts, teachers busking outside the tuckshop, and a
spelling bee in Year 4 that raised over $3,000. One student walked into the
Primary office and donated $50 of her pocket money, while a parent walked
into the main office and handed over $2,000 from a collection at his place
of work. Other businesses run by John Paul College parents also made their
contribution.
I won’t mention names
because I fear leaving out someone and, also, because so many people took a
role that it is impossible to name them all. Wherever possible, I have made
personal contact with these people. The best part, however, is the fact that
so much of this effort emanated quite naturally and spontaneously from the
students themselves. In the vast majority of cases, the staff and parents
provided co-ordination and guidance, but it was the students who came up
with the ideas, who did the work, who really raised most of the money. This
is the most significant feature of this phenomenon.
As I said at
the assembly, it is the most spontaneous and moving example of school spirit
that I have seen in 32 years in education.
Altogether,
by the time of the assembly, we had raised over $15,000 to send to the
Sclavos family in New York.
The other
significant feature of his whole phenomenon was the fact that the school and
Stanley and his family were in constant communication throughout the entire
process and even during the assembly. Messages and stories to Stanley were
regularly posted on our community portal, myjpc.com, which they were able to
read in New York, while stories and photos from Stanley and Nina in New York
were also regularly posted for our students here. Indeed, thanks to the good
offices of Rob Van Gaal of Quicknet, we were able to videostream the
assembly (which featured a message of thanks to the students on CD from
Stanley and Nina) so that Stanley and Nina were able to watch it just before
they both underwent the procedure involving the bone marrow transplant. I
will long remember, when they realized that Stanley and Nina were actually
watching, the way the entire Primary School turned to the camera to wave to
them in New York.
I received a
phone call from Kos Sclavos when I returned to my office after the assembly
to ask me to convey their thanks to the entire John Paul College family for
their support and also to tell me that the doctors and staff in New York
were absolutely astounded at the sophistication of our technology program to
be able to undertake what I have described above.
Stanley’s
procedure occurred on Good Friday, our time, and I know the prayers of many
John Paul College students and families were cognizant of Stanley on that
day. This was certainly the case at the traditional Stations of the Cross
ceremony conducted at St Edwards.
I can only
relay the thanks of Kos and Effie Sclavos to each and every supportive
member of the College as we prayerfully await the outcome of the procedure
and look forward to welcoming Nina, and a fit and well Stanley, back into
their classrooms in 6 months time. As for those brave 13 volunteers who had
their heads shaved – well, all I can say is that it looks better on the
women than it does on the men, but we thank them all. (Cont)
Thanks
To My School John Paul College
One of the parents of a student
at my school is Mr Greg Ford. His company helped me. Thank to everyone at
trade tools.
Trade Tools
ABN 060285976
(Qld) Pty, Ltd)
Greg Ford Owner of
Trade Tools
I would like to
thank Trade Tools who helped pay for our family’s airfares for the trip to
New York. A percentage of the week’s Easter 2002 sales profits was donated
for me. One of my friends scanned their Sunday Mail advertisement of 24th
March and sent it to me to New York. Wow! The advertisement says, “It is
hoped that Greg Ford and the team at Trade Tools will raise between $6,000
and $10,000.” Greg’s daughter Rachel attends John Paul College with me.
3 April 2002
Update – Trade Tools Qld
Raised $7050.00
Thanks for your wonderful support Trade Tools Qld
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