A slice of fun
Monday, April 2, 2007 -- Jennifer Higgs
On the last Wednesday of each month, staff and students at Rhema Christian School look forward to lunchtime.

It’s pizza day at Rhema, and the smell reaches through the hallways as excited students eat their pepperoni and cheese slices. The lunch is also a fundraiser for the school, with all profits forwarded to school projects.

Pizza day started about seven years ago and is a popular alternative to brown bag lunches. Bev Hawkins comes into the school and volunteers in the kitchen to organize the lunch.

Parent volunteer Bev Hawkins lends a hand on pizza day.

“They needed some help, and I just hate making lunches,” says Hawkins. She has one child attending Rhema, and two who are now alumni.

More than half of the students sign up for the lunch. The slices are $2.50 each, and parents can order for the whole year at the beginning of the school year, or on a monthly basis.

Allan Hill is the owner of both Domino’s Pizza locations in Peterborough and donates the pizza. In the past, the proceeds have gone towards the purchase of art supplies, new playground equipment and the deficit.

Rena Ridley, Rhema’s office administrator, completes the paper work and orders the pizzas. The Grade 7 class delivers the pizza to the classrooms from the school’s kitchen.

“Part of it is that I have vested interest in seeing Rhema prosper, as a parent,” says Hill whose children attend the school. As a Christian businessman, Hill says he believes he has the right and responsibility to help out local charities. “Part of that is simply giving back to God,” he says.

“I believe that I’m better off doing something that I know how to do,” he says. Hill says he looked for a way to give in a logical and concrete way, and use his resources and skills.

“To me, it just made sense that if I was going to be doing it, I would do it at no charge,” he says.

Hill encourages other people who feel they might not have resources or time to help the school to consider practical ways. He says other people who volunteer their time are giving a lot.
“What other people do is just as if not more important than what I do,” he says.