MOOREFIELD – Plans to raise a roof over an outdoor rink here have received a $10,000 boost from the Hensall and District Co-operative.
On July 23 Hensall Co-op announced that The Optimist Club of Moorefield will receive $10,000 towards the club’s project to build a roof over the outdoor rink and recreation pad located beside the Optimist Clubhouse on Ball Avenue.
The Moorefield rink roof project is one of two selected as winners in the inaugural year of the cooperative’s Strong Communities Initiative.
The Miami Parks Board in Miami, Manitoba also will receive $10,000 to build a pavilion in its camping park. The pavilion will be available free of charge to all members of the community for a variety of events.
“Both projects support wellness and family activities. The selections committee considered this to be vitally important as we rebound from the COVID restrictions,” co-op officials state in a press release.
The release notes the roof structure in Moorefield will reduce the amount of snow, freezing rain and sunshine that impact the skating surface to increase the amount of time the ice is available to the community.
“In the spring, summer and fall months the roof structure will allow for more outdoor events to be enjoyed by members of the community,” officials state.
“This generous grant has put our campaign into overdrive, and we look forward to continuing our fundraising so that we can begin construction,” stated Moorefield Optimist Club vice president Jeremy Culling.
“Our Optimist Rink has been a place for our families to gather and our youth to meet with friends. It has been a place where many of our youth have learned to skate for the first time and has assisted in helping our youth build valuable social skills and confidence in many of the things they do. An improved structure will have an even stronger impact on our community.”
Culling said the group is approximately half way to meeting its fundraising goal for the project.
“Our members have been working very hard in an attempt to meet our goal and we are truly grateful for the awesome community support that we have had with our fundraisers,” he stated in an email.
The club is planning a bottle drive and a wing night in the near future and hopes to have dates for those events confirmed soon.
“If there are any businesses or individuals interested in helping us out with meeting our goal, we would also be interested in discussing sponsorship opportunities,” said Culling.
The Strong Communities Initiative was launched in 2021 to support projects that boost the resilience of rural communities. Projects were open to registered charities and were judged by Hensall Co-op on specific criteria that measured the impact on the local community and the sustainability of the project.
“We are passionate about protecting our local communities which is why we direct the bulk of our sponsorship investment to supporting rural healthcare and healthy living initiatives, agricultural societies and the education of rural youth,” stated Hensall Co-op CEO Brad Chandler. “The Strong Communities Initiative grew out of our commitment to the communities we serve. We were extremely pleased with the quality of the submissions we received although it made selecting a winner very difficult for our team.”
