Service clubs in Olds combined to recently hand over $23,500 to the Mountain View Seniors' Housing Foundation to help pay for interior furnishings for the newly-renovated Mount View Lodge.
The fundraising has been ongoing for the past couple of years and has now reached $166,500 toward a $300,000 goal the housing foundation has set.
Elaine Taylor, chair of the foundation, said the service clubs in Olds did a great job of coming together for the sake of the community in this project.
“They've all been great contributors,” she said.
The Olds Rotary Club donated $10,000 toward the dining room furnishings at the Mount View Lodge after identifying the project as worthwhile.
“We decided that it was a worthwhile project to fund for the new lodge. All of us know people who need that type of care or our parents do, and so we … decided that we would do it over a period of years,” said Marjory Lally, president of the Rotary Club of Olds.
Lally, who also sits on the housing foundation board — and has a community nursing background — wholeheartedly supported the project.
“It certainly was a project close to my heart,” she said.
The Elks Lodge contributed $5,000 toward a new therapeutic tub to be used at the lodge for residents. Chester Dodd, president of the lodge, said the club had donated toward a tub at the Olds Hospital and Care Centre previously, and club members thought it would be a good idea to do it again.
“It was something that the people in charge of the Mountain View Seniors' Housing Foundation … mentioned it would be beneficial for us to donate to,” Dodd said.
The funds were raised through casinos and bingos hosted by the club.
The Knights of Columbus donated $500 toward the therapeutic tub. Brent Boutwell, grand knight of the local group, said the K of C believed it would be an excellent project for the community.
“Simply because of the fact that it (provides) something for the community. That's what we're all about. If we have the opportunity to help out in the community, that's what we're all about,” he said.
The Olds Royal Canadian Legion and ladies auxiliary combined to raise a total of $8,000 for the interior of the new lodge. Nobody from the legion could be reached for comment last week before press time.
