Loughborough_ps_09-20

Jeff Green | May 21, 2009

The sofa, with Lisa Fenwick, left, of LPS, Claudia Gabriel, raffle winner, and Pierre Levesque of La-Z-Boy, Kingston

Claudia Gregory of Sydenham was the lucky winner of a love seat and sofa raffled off recently at Loughborough Public School, Sydenham. The pieces of furniture had been donated to the school by La-Z-Boy Kingston, launching a fundraising drive to create a multi-sensory room at LPS.

A multi-sensory room (the only one presently in the area is at Prince Charles in Verona) is intended to provide a special place where a child can interact with and experience sound, light, smell, touch and taste. Popular in Europe, such spaces have been found to increase concentration, alertness and general awareness of the surrounding world and one’s place in it. They can also have a calming effect on a child who is agitated or trying to deal with anger. They are, however, expensive to set up: the LPS estimate is $40,000.

Hughes said the school already has a space available for conversion, and the $6,000 earned from this raffle is an excellent start. They plan to hold a big fundraising community event at the school in the fall, and are applying for grants, hoping that "The Oasis," as the room’s already named, will become a reality some time next year. The room will be available for use by students from six area schools, including SHS.