HOPE Mission Wins Special Contribution to Public School Education - PSBAA Award

Wetaskiwin Regional Public Schools Board of Trustees recently nominated the HOPE Mission for the Public School Board Association "Special Contribution to Public School Education" award.  We are very proud to announce that PSBAA has chosen the HOPE Mission as the recipient of this year's award.  

Wetaskiwin Regional Public Schools is extremely grateful for everything Hope Mission does, and their work goes beyond Wetaskiwin borders. It is for this reason our Board felt that Hope Mission should be recognized by PSBAA as a recipient of the “Special Contribution to Public School Education” award.

Over the last several years, the Hope Mission has become a most significant support service to the students of Wetaskiwin Regional Public Schools. As a well-established organization with a long history of success in the Edmonton area (over 80 years), they have been able to very quickly become a highly responsive, needs based, efficient service provider for our students and families.

Hope Mission staff work closely with our schools and community partners to assess needs, fill gaps and build programming without creating duplication of services. They listen to the community needs with an open heart, open mind and move immediately to address some very basic student needs. They have been serving Wetaskiwin and surrounding areas for over 5 years now.

At present, Hope Mission is providing emergency lunches every week in 15 schools in the Wetaskiwin area, amounting to over 15 000 plus lunches a year. This level of support is completely unprecedented and at no cost to schools or families.
In addition, they are providing after-school positive relationship programming to students in two of our most high-needs schools. This programming, Kids in Action, runs for 18 weeks and Hope Mission plans to extend it by an additional 6 weeks for grades 4-6. They are also supporting Jr. High aged students with mentor support over the noon hour. 

Hope Mission has also facilitated some of our most vulnerable students in building crucial life skills through their Horses of Hope Program. Through this safe and adult supervised relationship with horses, students learn the skills of team-work, problem solving, communication, confidence, responsibility and leadership.  They experience acceptance from the horses and build their own sense of self-worth through this exceptional program.

Wetaskiwin Regional Public Schools knows the importance that children come to school supported, cared for and experience their own self-worth. They need the necessities of life to be met before learning can happen in the classroom. It is for these reasons that they nominated Hope Mission for this award.

View: PSBAA News Release

Learn more about: Hope Mission