St. Patrick School Awarded Grant

St. Patrick School would like to announce that it was awarded a Healthy Kids grant for $2,125.00 written by elementary principal Mrs. Sarah Townsend. The funds allowed us to purchase new, interactive and multi-player playground equipment! There are several items for the school to use on a daily basis and permission was granted for an enhancement idea to share our blessings with the community.

Before school and during recesses students can choose to engage in Ga Ga Ball using two “pits”, extra-large checkers, mega-chess (pieces are 25” tall!), tic tac toe and two SPS Shamrock themed Corn hole sets! During lunch recess at Alton Park, students can use a third Ga Ga Ball pit that was gifted to the City of Portland! The game of Ga Ga Ball is a variant of dodgeball allowing for the entire class to remain active. Physical Education at all grade levels can take advantage of the new pits. Various curriculum ideas can also provide for unique classroom teaching experiences with both the pits and the giant outdoor games.

We would like to thank volunteers Chris Pung, Doug Smith, father and son team Jeff and Alex Fedewa, Cortney & Troy Smith along with sons Ben & Henry, and Mark Davis & Heather Hendges-Davis for their time and talent launching this exciting project! A very special “Thank You” goes out to park patrons, brothers Robert and Mason Doty, who saw the crew last Saturday morning and pitched in to help!

We hope these additions to St. Patrick School will lead to even more active and critical thinking play for the students and add to the enjoyment of Alton Park visitors.

Disclosure: Sarah Townsend is the wife of The Portland Beacon Owner/Publisher Jim Townsend.