North Queens Community School graduating class of 2022. Photo South Shore Regional Centre for Education

Communities across Queens and Lunenburg counties are working to give the 2022 North Queens Community School grads a safe send off.

A group of parent volunteers has been hosting several fundraisers over the past weeks to provide students with a safe grad.

They launched an online auction at the beginning of the month posting items donated by businesses and residents alike.

Over 60 parcels are up for grabs, ranging from collectables and clothing to gift certificates for services.

Marie Gernon, the parent spearheading the latest effort, is confident given the support so far, the group will reach their $9,000 goal.

“For me, that’s one of the highlights is just seeing the community come together and supporting,” said Gernon. “It doesn’t matter if it’s my community or Bridgewater or Liverpool, everybody’s coming together.”

The money is being used to support safe-grad, a drug and alcohol free, all-night outing for the graduates.

The students decided after receiving their diplomas they wanted to head into Halifax and spend the night at the Putting Edge, Playdome and Get Air.

Money raised will cover those fees plus the cost of a bus and driver to bring the grads back and forth to the city before they return to the school for an early morning breakfast together.

Gernon says because of COVID it’s been two years since there’s been a safe grad and it’s important to acknowledge the difficult situation the students have come through.

“Let the kids know that hey, you guys have done an amazing job and this is, as parents and community, this is our way of saying good job, here’s something that you guys want to do,” said Gernon.

Auction items can be viewed by joining the Grad 2022 Online Auction Facebook page.

Bids can be placed in the comments below the item and bidding closes June 12 at 3:00pm.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.

Liverpool Regional High School. Photo credit Ed Halverson

Supporters of Liverpool Regional High School graduates will continue to do so online this year.

For close to 25 years, organizers have held a dinner and auction to raise money for the LRHS scholarship fund.

Each year, the fund distributes around 20 $1,000 awards to roughly a third of the graduating class in support of their post-secondary schooling.

Fundraising efforts moved to an online auction when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, cancelling the in-person dinner.

Fundraising committee member Kim McPhail says uncertainty surrounding how lifting COVID restrictions would impact the live event made staying online the most viable option this year.

“We just kind of had to say, okay, we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. We’re going to have to do the online one to make sure that we can provide the kids with the best option we can,” said McPhail.

Instead of serving patrons dinner as they normally would, 40 student volunteers are headed into the community to ask residents and businesses to donate items to be auctioned off.

So far, those items include donations of everything from gift certificates to a load of gravel ranging in value from $25 up to $500.

Items are auctioned off in blocks on the LRHS Foundation Facebook Page.

McPhail doesn’t know how many items will be up for auction as donations are still pouring in but says bidding opens for each item in a block at 8:00am and closes at 8:00pm three days later.

She says the auction will end May 31 so the money raised can be turned over to the LRHS Scholarship Foundation by June 1.

McPhail says the group has set a goal of raising $22,000 this year.

“It’s a big goal but we do have a lot of community support.”

Since the auction began 24 years ago, the LRHS Foundation has awarded almost half a million dollars to over 400 students.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.