Students enjoyed skating thanks to community support

By Wanda Backus-Kelly

There’s an old saying that it takes a village to raise a child. At Port Rowan Public School, the saying could be adapted to read “It takes a village to send kids skating!” Thanks to the efforts of many local businesses, service clubs, private individuals, church groups and the staff at the school, students were able to have the needed equipment provided and the busing costs covered to get to spend time learning to ice skate at Langton Arena.

Because many children don’t own or have access to a pair of ice skates that fit them, they are unable to take advantage of field trips to local arenas to enjoy some time ice skating. A further barrier to participation is that hockey helmets are required, another item most children don’t own. Coupled with the expense of a bus to get the students to the arena, all these factors combined meant no skating trips for the students at Port Rowan Public.

That is, until school parent council member Darcy McWilliams got involved. She credits staff member Mr. Bazilli for giving her the idea.

“First I would like to thank Mr. Bazilli for giving me the idea to get skates and helmets and get these children out skating. He was talking about what other schools did that he was at, and wondered why we couldn’t do that? We needed skates and helmets to make that happen. That’s all he had to say. The rest is history!” Armed with this information and a drive to make it happen, Darcy reached out to find the equipment and the donations to get the students on the ice.

“I would like to thank the Long Point Lions Club, Port Rowan Legion, Port Rowan Pharmasave, Doerksen Country Store, Heidi Wilson, Peak Realty, Cheshires on Bay and Port Rowan Home Building Centre who all donated money for helmets and totes to keep the skates in. LMP Mini Excavation and Landscaping, Port Rowan Legion, Neal Memorial United Church Women, St. Williams United Church Women and the Port Rowan school-parent council paid for the four busing trips to Langton Arena.”

Darcy goes on to tell of how she sourced skates and helmets.

“I would also like to thank The Port Rowan Thrift Store for discounted prices and donating many, many pairs of skates. I cleared out many thrift stores from Jarvis to Woodstock to St. Thomas, and everywhere in between, and then checked on buy and sell sites and pleaded my case: “They are for the children at a school!” and most donated or dropped the price for me. So, if you are one of those people who donated your skates, thank you. I would also like to mention and thank Brad Adams and Rick Boyko at Source for Sports in Simcoe for giving us discounts to get every pair of skates sharpened. I would also like to thank Amber Myers, Tracy Mayo and Victor Goni for helping me fit each student with skates and helmets in preparation for their skating trips.”

Darcy hopes to see the students be able to go skating each year, given that the school now owns enough skates and helmets to adequately outfit each student for a safe experience.

“The school now has over 110 pairs of skates in totes and 35 helmets for the children to use for years to come. The only thing they need is busing! It cost $320 each skating day but it gets over 125 children on the ice. If you know anyone who would like to help out the children next school year with the busing cost, please let us know.”

Perhaps the most rewarding part of this year’s skating trips for the school was the feedback Darcy received from one of the students.

“The children have improved so much in just three times on the ice,” Darcy noted. “It’s truly amazing to see and also to see some students help other students tighten their skates. I had one boy come and personally thank me when he said ‘I never went skating before in my life and probably wouldn’t have if we didn’t do this at school.’ He was so excited that he learned to skate. That’s something that many of us take for granted as we used to be able to go all winter on the ponds and low spots in the fields that froze over.”

Darcy thanks everyone who contributed to make this happen. “We truly have a great community that comes together for each other. The children and I truly appreciate everything that made this idea come to life. We couldn’t have done it without all these people.”

Originally printed in the Good News, May 2025.