The kitchen shelves will be packed at Greentree School thanks to a huge donation from Cenovus Energy.
    On Wednesday, September 18, Cenovus donated $9,000, spread over three years, to the Greentree School Breakfast Program. The money will be used to help give students, who don’t have breakfast, the most important meal of the day.

Cenovus Energy helped give the Greentree School Breakfast Program a huge boost on Wednesday with a $9,000 three year commitment. Present at the donation were Drumheller Cenovus employee Jen Olsen (left), Breakfast Program co-coordinator Doreen Oliver, Cenovus community investment senior advisor Mandy Bishop, Breakfast Program Coordinator Amber Kennedy, and Greentree School principal Chris Connell.

    “We want to help  in the communities we work,” said Mandy Bishop, senior advisor for community investment at Cenovus. “Education programs are especially important to us and when we were talking to Doreen originally, we knew it was a good one. We’re happy to be here and be involved. Hopefully this money will go a long way to help the kids in this school.”
    Not only did Cenovus donate to the program, they even helped out in the kitchen on Wednesday morning.
    “We were able to participate and it was great to see the program in action,” said Bishop.
    For the coordinators of the program, the donated funds went beyond their hopes.
    “Now we know for three years we have something to go on,” said Doreen Oliver, co-coordinator of the Greentree School Breakfast Program. “Our program here was in bad shape and really needed that extra boost to get back on track.”
    By Oliver’s calculations, it costs roughly $75 per day to run the program. However, the cost and effort is well worth it.
    “I feel like this is so worthwhile, it gives me a reason to get out of bed. When I retired I lost a little focus, but this really gave me a purpose,” said Oliver.
    Anyone wishing to donate or volunteer is encouraged to contact Greentree School at 403-823-5244.

    Staff Sergeant Art Hopkins is hoping to make after school pickup at St. Anthony’s as smooth and safe as possible.
    This comes as issues associated with traffic around St. Anthony’s School resurface.

RCMP are asking parents picking up students after school at St. Anthony’s to arrive at about 3:25 p.m.,  after buses have left, to curb congestion.

    “No one is happy with parking around the school and stopping on the road is creating a traffic hazard,” said Hopkins.
     He explains problems are typically at the end of the school day when all the busses are loading and blocking off access to the West Parking lot.  Many parents come early to pick their children up but there is only room for a half dozen. Vehicles then end up stopping on the access or stopping along the road.
    “This in turn causes problems for the bus drivers and trying to leave and puts many people and children at risk,” he said.
     The current practice is the school dismisses the bus students early so they can load and leave usually by/before 3:20 p.m.  The other students do not exit the building until 3:20 - 3:25 p.m.  Once the busses leave there is ample parking.
    The easiest solution to the parking problem is for parents not to arrive until approximately 3:25 p.m. or after the busses leave.
    Should parents want to pick their children up earlier they should do so before 3:00 p.m.
     “There will be increased patrols and vehicles / operators stopped on the road are subject to be ticketed. Please attend after 3:25 p.m. and everyone will be much happier and everyone will be able to leave in a safer manner,” said Hopkins.
    “We cannot move the school so we have to come up with actual solutions, and everyone is open to make suggestions.”