Earlier this year the students at PTP took part in a pilot project for the Quill Learning Network and received a $450 honorarium for their work. We chose to put this money toward a special event:

The Advocacy & Events Team at the West centre asked all the students and teachers of PTP to choose their favourite of 3 special events. Those events included a barbeque, a movie, and a bus trip out of town. The main event voted for was a BBQ picnic.

The team got together and decided the best place for a picnic would be Centennial Park because it is so close for everyone. We decided on a date and saw that the weather would be sunny and hot for that day. Next, we made an announcement at Centre Meeting regarding the location, date and time and posted notices on the bulletin board. We also gave each class directions and posted them on the bulletin board as well.

We made a list of what we needed and assigned various members of the team the job of finding out the price of each item. We then calculated what the barbecue would cost. We needed to know this as our budget was no more than $450.00.

We asked the Bits and Bites team to purchase the munchies and drinks and we gave them $50.00 to do so. We also asked the Food Team to make salads and we gave them $100.00 to do so. That left us with $300.00 to buy food and other accessories.

The Bits and Bites Team came through with flying colours by buying chips, cheezies, pop, juice and water. The Food Team went above and beyond the call of duty and made four delicious salads, a bean salad, a pasta salad, a strawberry salad, and a wonderful potato salad. Meanwhile, the Advocacy Team went en masse to the Dollar Store at Cloverdale Mall and picked up cutlery and BBQ utensils weeks before the event. Two days before the picnic, Joseph and Vince shopped for charcoal at Canadian Tire, and Asma, Agnes, and Faduma bought the condiments, including ketchup, mustard, relish and mayonnaise, at No Frills.

On the day of the barbecue, Omar, Joseph, and Vince went ahead in Agnes’s van to the park to set everything up. We were so lucky that Agnes had started at PTP the week before because she has a van and was more than willing and able to help us carry so many things. Thank you so much, Agnes!! The rest of us, including Eric, Asma, and Faduma, went in Sandi’s car, and picked up the meat, the buns and the ice on the way to the park. When we got there, we found the others had already set everything up, started the three BBQs, and put up the signs indicating where people should get their food.

These signs were colour coded, and this was important because each BBQ was cooking a different kind of meat. For example, BBQ#1 had chicken burgers, BBQ#2 had veggie burgers, and BBQ#3 had hamburgers and hotdogs. Needless to say, BBQ#3 was the most popular and successful, as the cook on that BBQ, Clive, was exercising his excellent grilling skills. As a result, people who had signed up to get chicken burgers or veggie burgers quickly changed their minds and lined up for one of Clive’s mouth watering burgers. Thank you, Clive!!

All the students and staff had arrived at the park at around 11:30am, and were waiting patiently in the shade for the meat to be ready. We were so lucky because at the last minute it had threatened to rain, but it held off, although we could have used a shower!!! Despite the heat, everyone was socializing, including special guests, Barb McFater, Executive Director of PTP, and Jennifer, a substitute teacher, who brought cookies and pears for the occasion.

Everyone enjoyed the food though there was enough salad left over to take back to school, and Shahina kindly served it for free the following day. Many people were also able to take some cooked meat and buns home to have for dinner, and to freeze for future consumption.

Just past 2 o’clock, we started to clean up, though some people stayed until 3:30 because they were having so much fun!

All in all, the BBQ was a HUGE success!!!!!

— by the Events and Advocacy Team