Irvine School Brings Back Miracle Market for Third Year

On Wednesday, December 11, Irvine School held their third annual Miracle Market. The goal this year was to have 4,000 donated items for students to choose from when selecting gifts for others.  

“On the Miracle Market Day, every student comes in and they are able to purchase items for their parents or siblings or their grandparents,” explained Principal Trent Rayner. “We have over 25 parents who act as elves and they wrap the gifts. The students are so excited when they get these presents for others, they learn the sense of giving as they aren’t buying for themselves.”  

Feedback from parent council regarding the Miracle Market was positive, with stories about how grandparents had tears of joy upon receiving the gifts and how enthused children were to be giving a gift they selected and paid for to their family members.  

Despite how much work it is to run and organize the Miracle Market, Rayner said, “it is totally worth doing. For the most part, people donate anything they think people could use or would like.”  

A large range of items are donated to the school in the week prior to the Miracle Market. Drop off times were during parent-teacher interviews in early December, but gifts were already being donated ahead of that date.  

The market was open for the whole school day on December 11 with the younger grades going in first. “The Grade 9s take the Grade 1 students around the market first and help them select gifts. They will ask them what their parents do and other questions to help them select the best gifts to give,” stated Rayner. 

Any gifts that don’t get used are donated to Seven Persons School, who will hold their own Miracle Market. This year, for the first time, anything left over from Seven Persons is being transported to Schuler School so they can also have a market this year. “It is now being shared between schools within Prairie Rose,” explained Rayner.  

Money raised from the Miracle Market is being used to put together Christmas hampers for families who need some extra support over the holiday season. Last year, five hampers were delivered to families in the community. The hampers contained a turkey, fruit and vegetable trays along with a selection of other holiday food. Additionally, there were Christmas napkins, plates and other items, such as tea towels.  

During the last week of school, on Wednesday December 18, before the winter break, the school had their second annual Christmas dinner with all the fixings for the entire school. Irvine School has just over 400 students and, along with feeding staff and volunteers, it is a massive undertaking.  

“We did it last year and it was really good,” stated Rayner. “I brought it to parent council and heard stories about multiple students saying they were so excited because they’d never had a turkey dinner before. It takes between 25 and 30 volunteers with some precooking turkeys and hams and bringing them into the school. We have huge community support to get the dinner organized, cooked and served.”  

Again, the youngest students were served first with each subsequent grade following. The students took the meal back to their classroom and ate together with their friends and teacher.  

By Samantha Johnson, Prairie Rose Public Schools Content Writer