Fraser Wood Elementary community raises more than $140,000 for new playground

Fraser Wood Elementary principal Kirpaul Kaur and a group of generous parents and donors cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the school's new playground.

Students and parents at Fraser Wood Elementary celebrated the opening of the school’s new playground Friday (June 10), thanking the PAC and community for their hard work and generosity in raising more than $140,000 for the structure in just one year’s time.

Parents began fundraising in February 2021 as the student population began to become too much for the school’s existing playground, and interest in expanding it grew among the school community.

“This is my third year at Fraser Wood, and when I came here, they were already talking about needing another playground,” said principal Kirpaul Kaur. “When everyone’s on the playground, it’s very busy and we have a large space for a new one.

“We just said, ‘let’s do this,’ and we had a number of parents who were very committed to the project and took it on.”

The school received significant donations from parents, including two in memory of former students.

The family of Mason Hernandez, a six-year-old Fraser Wood student who passed away in October 2014 from Moebius syndrome – an extremely rare congenital neurological disorder – donated more than $55,000 toward the construction of the playground. His younger brother Perry is currently in Grade 4 at Fraser Wood.

Kent and Andrea Magnuson donated $10,000 in memory of their son Parker, who was one of three local teenagers who passed away in a car accident last summer. The $10,000 was money that Parker himself had saved.

Other community members and local businesses made large contributions, including $10,000 donations from Foxridge Homes, Paddington Properties and Kelly Perry. By January 2022, the school reached its goal for the first two phases of the playground.

“We had some very motivated fundraisers with a solid plan and the community was very generous,” said Kaur. “I’m so proud to be part of a community that’s so giving and generous.”

With phase one and two of construction done, the playground is open for students to use. The school is halfway to its phase three goal of installing a rubber surface to improve accessibility. Anyone interested in donating can make a donation online, or contact the school at fraserwood@surreyschools.ca or 604-589-6442 to learn more.