F.E. Osborne Outdoor Sport Courts Project

The Cause

Our plan is to raise $200,000 in order to upgrade F.E. Osborne Junior High’s Sport Courts by resurfacing the courts, painting new lines and replacing the existing basketball and tennis court nets.
The current courts have well surpassed their life expectancy and due to many health and safety concerns necessitate replacing. Upgrading the courts will create a safe tennis and basketball surface that promotes active living for the students of F.E. Osborne School and for all residents within the community and surrounding communities.
At present the risk has prevented the school from using the courts this year for outdoor Phys. Ed units.
Outdoor sports courts in any community promote health, wellness and are an integral part of a child’s education, personal growth and development.

Who Will it Benefit?

The primary beneficiaries are the staff and students of F.E. Osborne Junior High. The students who attend F.E. Osborne School come from a number of surrounding communities, including Varsity, Silver Springs, Montgomery, Hawkwood and University Heights. The staff and students of our neighbouring elementary school, Marion Carson, the community of Varsity and surrounding communities will all benefit from the refurbishment of these courts.

This project is an excellent example of the power of community engagement and the importance of paying it forward to benefit, not only your community, but surrounding communities as well. The biggest challenge schools and communities face is finding funding to run their programs and projects. So back in 2010 a group of parents representing the Parent Councils of a number of schools in the area decided to get together and help each other by sharing information about how to access funding and lessons learned from completed projects. The result was instead of having to “re-invent the wheel” each and every time a project was started, each organization benefited from their fellow volunteer’s experiences. The only requirement for access to this expertise is to “pay it forward” to another group looking for help. The result, projects like playgrounds, community gardens, and sport courts are getting completed in significantly less time with less wasted resources. The simple act of “paying it forward” has led to greater outdoor resources for our all our community members to enjoy.

Team members from this project have already started to pay it forward by sharing their lessons learned.