Spotlight on Andy

Kindness, encouragement and generosity come from various places and this is particularly true of Andy who was put in touch with Jesters. He had recently fallen on hard times, but instead of being miserable about it, he found a way to bless others.  He owned a lot of tech equipment pieces that needed new homes and decided to donate much of what he had to various people and organizations.  His generosity not only found its way to Jesters in the form of spotlights and sound equipment, but has also blessed others as far as Fiji and Angola! Proverbs 11:24a The Message ‘The world of the generous gets larger and larger…’

A newsworthy, fundraising surprise story

Just after 11 am, a man approached the sales tent and astounded us with his request to purchase ALL the remaining boxes of donuts. He asked how many boxes were left and had the kids busily counting and reporting that 59 boxes were available. Admittedly, when first hearing his request, the info didn’t compute.  A sale is a sale, but we also use fundraising opportunities to build community and knew that there were others coming to purchase donuts that would be disappointed if there were none left.

The shoe dropped when he confirmed that he didn’t WANT the donuts, he only wanted to PAY for the donuts and have us pay it forward and bless others! He then proceeded to hand us $1000 – which was even much more than what we would have received with regular sales on the remaining boxes! he quietly returned to his vehicle, a group of the youth immediately jumped into action and excitedly delivered donuts to businesses in the Prospera complex, across the street to Rexall to bless healthcare workers and to Panago who had been amazing all Summer with very inexpensive (and sometimes free!) pizzas for our programs. Other youth shared this amazing story with people who drove up to purchase, many who, overcome with their own feelings of generosity and good will, still paid for their donuts, donated extra and expressed gratitude to the “amazing people of Mission.” One dad drove up with a van load of kids insisting that he pay for the one box that he had planned for and when given an extra box, there was a lot of whooping of joy from the backseats!

What a feel-good moment!

So it turned out that an over the top donation was also a reminder lesson of generosity for all of us. This man didn’t take one box, and even refused to leave contact info for a donation receipt. His act was a catalyst for kindness, goodwill and generosity.

He freely gave generously,  with nothing expected in return. 🙂
His act is a humbling reminder for all of us, and was a great lesson for our youth.

P.S. All in all, we ended up raising $2060 which was well over our projected net profit!
Please feel free to share this inspiring story far and wide, we know we will!

 

 

Jesters Theatre Covid-Safety Plan

The safety and well-being of our students and their families is our top priority. See below for our Covid-19 Safety Plan. *Please note these policies are subject to change, as health regulations shift.

• We are committed to following the BC Health and Fraser Health regulations to the best of our ability. If a student and/or family is requested by either authority to isolate, they will not be permitted on-site at Jesters until the isolation process is complete.
• Students are expected to monitor their own health, and inform Jesters if they exhibit any of the recognized covid symptoms (cough, fever, etc). Likewise, if they have tested positive for covid, or are awaiting results for a covid test, we expect to be informed so we can take appropriate action.
• There is a zero-tolerance policy for illness of any kind on-site.
• Students will be in small cohorts (maximum of 10 per cohort).
• Adult to youth ratio will be minimum 1:5 at all times, so we have adequate supervision to ensure health and safety protocols.
• Students, staff, and volunteers will be checked-in for each program, for contact tracing purposes.
• Increased cleaning measures have been put in place.
• Hand sanitizer will be available and used at frequent intervals; students are required to sanitize when they first arrive, at snack time and after a washroom break.
• Masks are currently required indoors and suggested whenever physical distancing is unable to be maintained outdoors. *Extra masks will be made available if students do not have their own and desire one.
  • Use of taped-off assigned areas may be implemented when masks have to be taken off (when getting into costumes, etc). 
• Physical distancing will be maintained to the best of our ability during all activities as required.
• Snacks will be individually packaged, and served by a Food Safe staff/volunteer  unless further restrictions are lifted and snacks no longer have to be packaged.