Our Used Uniform Sale has been set for Monday, June 14 and Tuesday, June 15 (June 15th is also the date that Top Marks requires its orders in to guarantee shipment by July). It will be a 50/50 sale, with half the proceeds of the sale going back to the parents and half to the PTA. To sell your items, please download and fill out this form from the website, and hand it in to the office with the clothing you wish to sell by Thursday, June 10. To facilitate an easier sale, the last two weeks of school - Monday, June 14 to Thursday, June 24th - will be uniform free.

The PTA is bringing back its useful and popular School Supply fundraiser. They will be putting together supply kits for every grade, delivered directly to your child's classroom for the start of school in September.

The deadline for submitting orders is Wednesday, June 30. Please download the order form from the website and put it in the PTA box with a cheque made out to Hillel Academy PTA. If you have any questions, please contact Debbie Sussman or Gina Camel-Toueg.

The students in grade 2 celebrated receiving their Chumashim this week. They danced and sang for the proud parents (recording the event, below) and then enjoyed cake.

Right, Rom and Sasha examine their new books and the inscriptions their parents wrote for them.

The annual SJCC Walkathon is coming up soon! This year's chairs (and Hillel parents) Dave and Jackie Lyman came to talk to the students this week about what fun it will be and tell them about some of the activities and prizes.

The Walkathon is a 9km route around the neighbourhood that people can walk, run or cycle, but this year a 2km family route has also been added. Registration is $36 per person or $60 for the whole family. That includes a great lunch afterwards and free children's activities. The funds raised go to a number of important organizations and programs, but this year, the organizers have also agreed to give 10% of anything raised by Hillel students right back to Hillel. As a further incentive, the class that raises the most money will win a pool party and lunch!

You can register to participate online or even have your name added to the online donations page for others to donate to you by emailing Sharon Diamond (the deadline to register for online donations is Tuesday, May 25).

If you can't make it yourself, you could also consider donating to Hillel's own Chai Walker,
Student Services Coordinator, Tal Gilboa. After many years at Hillel, Tal is moving to Montreal and she views this as her last chance to give back to a school she loves. The more money she raises, the larger the percentage that Hillel will get back! You can read more about it, and donate, here.

The school had an assembly for Shavuot, highlighted by the presentation of the donations the school collected for the Kosher Food Bank. The students were also given a Shavuot treat of ice cream, provided by the PTA.

Kosher Food Bank representative Karen Fainstein accepted the donations Hillel Academy students collected. Below, Ms. Fainstein stands with Sam, Elizabeth and Meredith as the students present their Shavuot donations.

  Lea is the latest first grader to reach 100 books!

In April, three YRHS students, Corinne Baray, Elishua Ben-Choreen and Idit Prizant, went on a March of the Living trip. They traveled to Poland to learn about the Shoah first-hand and then on to Israel. This week, they came to talk to the 8th grade students about their experiences.

The most important thing they learned from the trip, they told the students, was that it is becoming this generation's job to keep the memories of the Shoah alive. Survivor David Shentow has been a familiar face on March of the Living trips for many years, but at the age of 85, this one was his last. He emphasized to the students that the time is coming soon that there will be no more survivors to keep those memories, and our high school students clearly internalized that message, and are already passing it on.

Students in the lower grades got visits from two grandfathers earlier in the week. Seymour Bellman (above) and Abe Tarasofsky (below) read stories to classes from ADK to grade 2.