May 7, 2012

Walk for ALS

My grandson Elijah, is in Grade 3 and his teacher, Mr. Kloostra and another student in the class, Bryce, were having a competition growing their hair.  One day in class, they were discussing cutting their hair and decided that
it would be nice to raise money for a good cause. Elijah mentioned that he was going to walk on the ALS walk-a-thon and it was decided to raise money for that cause. Mr. Kloostra challenged the class that if they raised $100, he
would get his hair cut at the barber. If they raised $200, then he would let the students cut his hair! What if they raised $300, what would he do then?  He agreed to get a buzz cut. If they raised $400, he would also shave off his goatee. Elijah's dad said that if they raised $500, that he would
treat the class to a pizza party.Well, the class got busy, as you can imagine, and started calling and collecting furiously. At the end of the week, they had scraped together $1,473.57. Amazing!  


Friday turned out to be a very hot and muggy day; the perfect day to shed your winter mane and get your summer look and that is exactly what happened to Mr. Kloostra. The whole school was gathered out back around the playground equipment and there, on the top was a stool and an electric
shaver and a nervous looking Mr. Kloostra, with his long locks blowing in the wind for one last time. Beside him stood an overly eager Mr. den Hollander, grinning from ear to ear with shaver clutched in hand; but first the grade 3 class would get their turn. They were lined up at the bottom of
the ladder and one by one they climbed up, took the scissors and snipped off a chunk of hair and then slid down the slide. Once the class each had their turn, Mr.den Hollander finished off the job, giving their teacher a nice
buzz cut as well as shaving off his goatee. It was definitely a new look for Mr.Kloostra, a much "cooler" look.



Thank you Elijah for the great idea! Thank you Grade 3 for your enthusiasm and support! Thank you Mr. Kloostra for being such a good sport!

Once Mr. den Boer heard what the grade 3 class was doing, he was wondering what else the school could do to help out the Westerinks. He thought it might be a good idea to raise some money to help us pay for the extra expenses that we now have. He thought that since the shaver was going to be
out anyway, maybe it was time for his big, bushy, white beard and moustache to come off. After all, it has been 17 years since it last came off. The students were not allowed to ask their parents for money, it had to be their own money that they donated. The staff also generously donated and at the end of the week, staff and students had collected a total of $3026.42! The students were very excited to see a part of Mr.denBoer that they had never seen before, his chin and upper lip!


On Friday Mr.denBoer was up there on the bridge of the playground equipment with Mr.Kloostra and there, in front of the whole student body, Mr.Naves shaved off his beard and moustache. The Hamilton congregation is going to wonder who the new deacon is, this Sunday!



Thank you so much, Mr.denBoer and the whole staff and student body for your very generous support but even more than that, thank you for your love towards us and our family in our time of trial. Please continue to pray for us and we will continue to pray for Rehoboth Christian School, the whole
school community, which we love so dearly.


My wife Lena and our children and grandchildren will be walking in the ALS walk. The walk is booked for Sat. June 2/12 and it will be a 5 km walk around Bayfront park. If you would like to sponsor her, please follow this link.

If you would like to join "Team Westerink" on the walk, please register at the following link and click on the purple "Join Team" button:




Thank you to all those who have already joined and sponsored.

3 comments:

  1. Wow! That's awesome! - Good job everyone!

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  2. That's great and they look so much better now....really!

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  3. I'm so thankful to see you have such a loving, supportive community. Their enthusiasm is beautiful! Praying the Lord gives you and your wife all the strength you need for this new day.
    -Anita Higgins (nee VanDoodewaard)

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