While the Festival of Trees is amazing, fun and magical, there are much bigger reasons for us to get festive! We wanted to take some time to share the bigger WHY behind BELA’s Festival of Trees and the more complex reasons why this event is so important. Stick with me until the end. I think you will be surprised by some of these!
Education is a basic human need, and there is a vast amount of research indicating the importance of early learning and learning through play, in relation to later success in life. We know that the years before age 5 last a lifetime! We also know that the EDMap Project undertaken in Alberta by Alberta Education & Alberta Human Services, in partnership with school jurisdictions across the province, reveals alarming data. The project compares the percentage of children in Brooks & area who are experiencing difficulty in the 5 developmental domains to the percentage of children experiencing difficulty in the Province. A larger percentage of our children are struggling in every domain when compared to the provincial average, especially in Language & Thinking Skills & Communication.
Since this study was conducted our children and our education system have taken another devastating blow as a result of widespread school closures and distance/online learning during the Covid19 pandemic. “As COVID recedes in our rear-view mirror and another school year begins, we’re learning more about the damaging legacies of the unprecedented school closures that disrupted education in Canada and around the globe during the pandemic” (Allison, 2023). Parents and experts across the country are concerned about the long term effects on our children, some even coining the term “generational learning loss”.
One would think that the importance of early learning, combined with the data on delayed child development in Alberta and recent negative impacts of the pandemic on education would warrant government focus and allocation of much needed funding. However, that is not the case at all. More on this later…….
Even when faced with challenges we remain committed to supporting our students, their families and our community. We know the importance of quality early childhood education and early intervention and we are determined to continue delivering services no matter what obstacles pop up! Fundraising for our program through Festival of Trees is one of the ways we can overcome these obstacles.
One of the biggest factors for families around early learning opportunities is accessibility. Is there a program that is a good fit for the needs of their child and family, is there room for their child, and can they access it from an eligibility or affordability standpoint.
A key piece of accessibility is keeping fees reasonable for our families. The current cost per hour to attend BELA, if you were to break it down that way, is $6.60/hour and we haven’t raised our fees for several years despite rising costs to operate. Our families have been under seemingly endless pressure, first with the recession and then with the Covid 19 pandemic. We are committed to keeping fees accessible for all families and fundraising to cover some of our operating costs is one of the ways we can do that.
The cost of doing business continues to skyrocket across all sectors. Businesses, non profit organizations, charities, even volunteer associations, are feeling the effects of inflation. We have seen large increases in costs the past few years in every area: insurance, supplies, consumables, accounting and you should see our power bill! If we can cover some of these increased costs through fundraising we don’t have to pass that on to our families. Especially when we know our families are under financial pressure. Over ⅓ of our families are accessing the government subsidy program, more than we have ever had in 11 years of operating. This is partly due to the changes to the subsidy program made by the Alberta Government, but it is also because more families need the help. We have more families than ever coming in to see us to share the financial difficulties they are facing. We want to support these families and we need to find ways to do that.
Now let’s circle back to the previously mentioned allocation of funding by the Alberta Government. As you may know, BELA is an Alberta Education Early Childhood Site. This means that we provide early intervention services to students who qualify and those services are funded by Alberta Education. This includes services for children with special needs and those learning English as a second language. This may include services such as Speech & Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and / or Behavioral Therapy.
A large contributor to the challenges that schools and ECS providers are facing is due to massive funding cuts to PUF (Program Unit Funding) that occurred in 2020. For children with severe language delays, this meant a funding cut of 33%. The majority of three year olds entering early intervention programming were affected. This has created a difficult financial situation for programs that are still trying to provide the necessary and required interventions in order to support those children when it has the greatest impact on their success. In addition, the new funding model narrowed the criteria needed to qualify for PUF, essentially denying services to children who met criteria under the old model. As you can imagine, this is a complicated situation and one that is financially challenging. We know that we can have a positive impact for students with early intervention, the research is clear on that, but when we are so limited in what we can do, and for whom and when, it affects the learners who need us most. In a CBC News article regarding funding changes, Edmonton Public Trustee Shelagh Dunn said it was shortsighted to de-fund early intervention. “It makes me think of that phrase that we judge a society by how we treat the most vulnerable among us,” said Dunn. “And I have to say, reading this I’m quite ashamed of the decisions that were made.”
BELA was founded on the importance of early intervention, the practice of meeting our students where they’re at, and working to support them as they grow and learn. We were taught by the best that children need services when indicated. Full stop. Staying true to our values as an organization means we continue to find ways to support our students and families no matter what. Raising funds to help bridge the gap is one way we can do that, ensuring that the students who need services can get them regardless of tiny percentiles to qualify and caps on funding.
We are more your “Go Big or Go Home” kinda gals! So we could do a bunch of smaller fundraisers or we can do one BIG, sparkly, fun, festive one that also allows us to connect with our community and share funds with other organizations that also impact the lives of children and families!
As a way to extend further support to families in our area, we will be sharing the proceeds from Festival of Trees with a beneficiary each year that also works with or provides services or supports to children and families.
This years’ co-beneficiary will be the Aarit Hok Pediatric Fund (AHPF) which is a legacy fund under the Brooks & District Health Foundation specified for the needs of pediatrics at the Brooks Health Centre. It prioritizes the needs of the emergency department and also assists all aspects of the hospital in regards to pediatric needs and care. This fund was created by Aarit’s parents in memory of their sweet angel.
We hope you will join us for this very special event in support of children and families in Brooks and area. We don’t normally promise magic, but in this case we absolutely can! Come out for a visit with Santa, a tour of the beautifully decorated trees, a browse through the Merry Little Christmas Market, take in a performance by one of the many talented local music groups, or join us for Jingle & Mingle ~ the most festive holiday party of the year!
For more info about BELA or Festival of Trees please visit our website
~Carmen Powell
Director of Operations
Brooks Early Learning Academy