Volunteer Programs & Committees

The following descriptions provide information on the current activities proposed for the upcoming school year. What we do depends on our collective volunteer power. Volunteers leave the school each year as their children graduate so new volunteers are always welcome and appreciated (as are continuing volunteers!). Please feel free to contact the names below if you are interested in helping out, or fill out the form linked in the drop down menu above and return it to the school. We will have a volunteer sign up board in the lobby as well for interested parents to get involved! Thank you for your support!

Please also considering helping out with activities around school. Review the Signup page for opportunities to help out

Volunteer Coordinator
Contact: Cecilia Imani
Compiles the lists of volunteers and connecting them with their contacts.

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Arts Education
Contact: Teresa Pizarro, Cathy Dai & Priya Gupta
Optional fee-based choir and recorder lessons are provided by professional music educators during lunch and after school. This program relies on parent volunteers to guide children between classrooms, the music room and the playground during lunch. Wednesday and Thursday lunch hour. Senior choir is Wednesday after school (no volunteers needed).

Blog Coordinator
Contact: Abhi Gupta
The Southlands PAC Blog coordinator updates the blog by reposting PAC communications and forms, links to the school newsletter, and the PAC monthly minutes (provided by the PAC secretary). The blog is at http://southlands-pac.blogspot.ca/.

Class Parents
Contact: Michelle McCarthy
Class parents are one or more parents from a class who act as coordinators and communicators for the teacher and parents. They might help the classroom teacher organize and communicate information about class events such as field trips. They often organize coffee mornings for parents to get to know each other.

Cross Country
Contact: Heather Couch
The Cross Country season is short (mid-Sept to end of Oct) and the team usually has two early morning practice runs per week. The program cannot run unless there a least 6 committed adults to supervise the kids on their runs through the trails.

Fruit & Vegetable Snack Program
Contact: Li Li
Volunteers help deliver fruit or vegetable snacks (and milk to grades K-2) provided by the BC Ministry of Agriculture to classrooms approximately 12 times per year. Volunteers usually help out 3 or 4/year each. Handouts will be Tuesdays from 9-9:30 a.m. No washing, peeling or cutting needs to be done, all items come pre-washed!

Fundraising Committee
Contact: Renee Hui & Uliana Vankovych
This committee organizes and facilitates sales and events that raise funds for valuable educational programs and resources for the school. Many events are designed to give Southlands families a chance to connect and celebrate the Southlands community. New ideas and energy are always welcome!

Gardening Committee
Contact: Jodie Dorrington
The Southlands Greening Committee looks after the flowerbeds and planters on the school grounds. Volunteers meet roughly three times per year to weed, prune and plant. If you like to get dirty and want to volunteer without having to go to meetings or do paperwork, this is the committee for you! No experience necessary.

Grade 7 Parent Committee
Contact: TBD
Grade 7 parents are needed to organize fundraising activities and special events related to the Grade 7 year-end leaving ceremony and celebration. This committee is usually formed after an initial information meeting with all Grade 7 parents.

Gift Card Vouchers
Contacts: Priya Gupta
If you need groceries and gas, participating in this program allows you to raise money for the school without any cost to you. In this program, you purchase grocery gift cards that can be used at select local merchants. The participating retailers then give back 5-10% for every $100 spent on gift cards.

Hot Dog & Pizza Fridays
Contact: Amber Bethell
This fundraising program generates a significant amount of money for the school while providing a service to both students and their parents. Volunteers are needed to help with the preparation (hot dogs) and distribution (hot dogs and pizza) each Friday. The more people involved, the less work any one person has to do and we all get a break from making lunches on Fridays.

Traffic & Safety Patrol
Contact: TBD
We are currently working with the City of Vancouver and other neighborhood schools and organizations to improve traffic safety for students in front of our school and throughout the neighborhood. This includes advocating for traffic calming measures (like the new speedbumps outside our school!), organizing walk and ride to school weeks and traffic safety education. Parent traffic patrollers always welcome.

PAC Newsletter
Contact: Abhi Gupta
The PAC Newsletter Editor creates the weekly newsletter to notify parents of events at the school, and convey important information.

School Directory
Contact: Cheryl Ho & Deb Broadhurst
Parents collect and compile contact information for the school telephone directory.

Staff Appreciation
Contact: Karen Tsumura
This group organizes the annual staff appreciation lunch in June and recognizes staff milestones (maternity leaves and retirements) on behalf of the PAC.

Yearbook Committee
Contact: Dina MacDougall
Parent volunteers work with the students to create this wonderful memento of the school year in conjunction with a yearbook company. Responsibilities include: organizing photo taking of school events, collecting student art work and creating the overall layout of the publication.
Bonus: front row seats at concerts and events for yearbook photographers.