Welcome to the world of cadets. In the next few months you will experience a new chapter of your son/daughter life.
What is the role of the parents committee?
The parent committee is ALL parents of the cadets. We encourage and support our kids. As well we also support and respect all the staff.
As the cadet program is a free program, some things are not financially covered by the Department of the National Defense (affectionately known as the DND). The parents committee is required to fund the building where we parade (meet at). We also offset the costs of Highland kit, transportation, special occasions (such as pot lucks, Christmas parties), lunches, flags and other things not in the DND’s budget.
Fundraising is a big part of the program, but with the help of a lot of very talented and generous people and companies, there is very little time commitment required. We host a casino every 27 months (2 day adventure), have successful silent auctions, volunteered at the Festival of lights and other community events and most of all received generous donations. We realize that we all are busy and have other things on the go, so the more people that help with the little things the less time commitment is needed. This frees up time for our CO and staff to concentrate on the training and mentoring of the kids. Also enables more extras for the kids.
Parent meetings are once a month. This is a perfect time to get information of upcoming events for planning and organizing schedules. From time to time carpooling is required and this is a perfect time for planning for who needs a ride or who can offer a ride. As stated in our society by-laws, a vote is required on large expenditures. Also a vote is needed at our AGM for executive positions. So please at the least make plans to attend 3 meetings in the cadet year.
It is required that anyone working/volunteering with the Cadet program be screened and approved by the committee, Cadet League of Canada and Government of Canada. This requires a Police/RCMP check with the vulnerable sector included. Also a short interview and character reference check. The clearance is valid for 5 years. This an extra safe guard in place for the safety and wellbeing for our kids.
One of the most valuable tools we have is the our web site airdriecadets.com.
The staff at the end of the evening tells the kids upcoming events, dress code and training plans for the following week. This is a great time to pop in and get that information as sometimes its “lost” in translation with teenagers.
You will start to hear term that mean absolutely nothing to you at the moment but your child will start speaking to you in these terms. For example: “Mom got a FTX this weekend and I can’t find my FMP and where’s my combats cause we’re making hoochies and get IMPS”. Please consult our handy Cadet Terms Page to decode their cryptic messages.
Never be afraid to ask ……there is always someone to answer questions
The 2011-2012 Parent’s Committee is:
- Mark Bentley – President
- Stacey Fennell – Vice President
- Lorna Charlton – Past President
- Heather Undershute – Treasurer
- Wendy Pashulka – Secretary
- Bev MacLeod – Special Events Coordinator
- Renae Holmes – Ways and Means Coordinator
- Kathleen Closs Walroth – Public Relations/Recruiting Coordinator
