The RancheView School Fundraising arm can now focus funding efforts toward other wants and needs requested by the K to 8 school.

After three long years, the fundraising society will celebrate all the numerous bottle drives, fundraisers, bake sales, raffles, grant applications, and donors as RancheView officially announces the opening of the school playground.

Although plans had to be tweaked throughout the three-year process, Aaron Gertzen, President of the Fundraising Society says the board is proud of the end result. "We are very excited; it was a lot of work but it's great to see it wrapped up and the kids playing on it because that's really what it's all about."

Stating the school and staff have been great to work with, Gertzen shared they only encountered a few challenges along the way. "We saw a few construction challenges like you do with any project but nothing serious. There was a little deviation in the plan due to how the landscaping worked out with the land the school had but nothing that affected it too much in the grand scheme of things."

With hearing nothing but positive raves and remarks from staff and students, Gertzen feels it was a job well done.

With the cost of the playground coming in right around the $250,000 mark, Gertzen, shares it would not have been possible without the community support. "We want to extend our thanks and gratitude. We did what we did in a short period of time and its all because of our donors and the people that supported us whether that was financially or giving of their time. We couldn't have done it without them."

Raising $130,000 through their own efforts, RancheView School Fundraising Society was also granted $125,000 from the Provincial Government of Alberta back in May towards the project.

While the fundraising society may not have to be as gung-ho in their efforts, Gertzen says they will now shift the priority to funding other school desired items/projects as identified by administration. "We are now shifting our focus onto in-the-school priorities. We have three major areas; we want to finish off the outside with some permanent basketball nets and a tarmac area, some books and electronics for all the classes inside, and the school is really focused on getting an outdoor ed program going so we're going to be helping to fundraise to get that going too."

Even though fencing around the park will likely remain up until next spring due to some landscaping requirements, RancheView School Playground will be hosting a short ceremony today (November 15) at 10 am with a few remarks, refreshments, and RancheView Wranglers at play.