Let the Fundraising Begin!

Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang are joining in to help youth in Africa.

Students at Glenmore Elementary School are donating the proceeds from two special SD23-only dress rehearsals of their adaptation of A Charlie Brown Christmas to Niteo Africa’s Niteo Kids project. The current goal of the Kelowna-based NGO (non-governmental organization) is to raise enough money to purchase and outfit a mobile library – a bookmobile – to service schools and villages outside Kampala, Uganda.

Rhonda Draper, director of the play, is a Glenmore Elementary music teacher and 2007 winner of the Governor General’s award for excellence in teaching Canadian History. A self-described ‘keen supporter’ of Niteo, she approached Niteo board of directors member – and fellow Glenmore teacher – Erika van Oyen with the idea of charging SD23 students a twoonie apiece to view the full dress rehearsals earlier on the day of the performance.

“There are often events at the Community Theatre that SD23 students are invited to attend for a reduced ticket price,” van Oyen said. “So we put the call out to the schools in the district and asked if teachers wanted to bring their classes to the dress rehearsals at a cost of two dollars a student.”

Van Oyen says the response from teachers has been very positive.

“I’ve had teachers email me and tell me that they think it’s a great project and a great cause,” she said. She said the organization believes that the bookmobile project will cost about $20,000 and that the dress rehearsals – which are sold out – will raise about $2000 towards that goal.

The play, based upon the animated holiday classic, will be performed for the general public at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on November 20^th, 2008, at the Kelowna Community Theatre in the Arts District. Each performance will have a separate cast of grades four to six students from Glenmore Elementary. Tickets for the performances are $10 per seat, with proceeds to fund arts and music programs at Glenmore Elementary.