SUNDRE – When members of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #223 in Sundre reached out to the Sundre and District Aquatic Society’s volunteer board to suggest working together on a fundraiser for the indoor pool and fitness centre, the latter wholeheartedly agreed.
“The legion contacted us and asked us if they could put on a dinner with the benefits going to the Sundre and District Aquatic Society,” said Blair Rushka, the society’s president.
“We said, ‘Sure, that’s a great idea,’” Rushka told the Albertan last week during an interview at the Sundre and District Aquaplex alongside fellow board members Doug Yalte, a director, and Peggy Churchward, treasurer.
While the legion membership took on the lead of lining up preparations at the hall itself – which included making arrangements to have a live musical performance by the Blackbird Duo as well as dinner and an open bar – the society endeavoured to sell tickets and solicit support from local businesses to provide donations for a silent auction, he said.
“For us it was a win-win, because you help two organizations. You directly help the legion keep their place going, and you indirectly help the aquatic society,” he said.
“We had a great turnout; we estimate somewhere around 140 people,” he said, adding the silent auction also went really well.
Yalte said approximately 15 businesses offered their support with upwards of 20 items available at the silent auction.
As the event was an inaugural kick at the can, Yalte added the organizers did not know what to expect in terms of turnout, and were pleased with the outcome.
“For us, to do anything like that is a bit of a gamble because we don’t have a lot of money to play with,” he said. “You don’t want to lose money when you’re doing fundraisers.”
However, that did not seem to be the case, and Churchward estimated that the silent auction raised about $4,500.
“It’s phenomenal,” she said.
“We hope that they come back with a second year offer and we’ll be a little more organized,” added Rushka. “But for a first-year, inaugural event it was amazing.”
“We can’t stress strongly enough, that without the support of the community and the businesses, we wouldn’t have fundraisers like that,” he said. “This was for us – and I think for the legion – an amazing event.”
The proceeds will go towards replacing at the indoor fitness centre an aging elliptical machine, which is a piece of workout equipment that involves moving both one’s arms and legs and is much easier on joints than a treadmill.
“The fitness equipment does get worn out because it’s well used,” said Churchward. “We have more people using the fitness equipment than using the pool, which makes sense because it’s 24-hour access – we don’t have 24-hour access to the pool.”
And even when the indoor pool was temporarily closed down recently to complete some necessary upgrades as well as some additional touch-ups, the fitness centre had remained open the entire time.
“We want to stay on top of it,” she said.
Yalte added the facility is essentially open year-round, and that keeping the indoor pool and fitness centre properly funded as a group of volunteers who make up the board is an ongoing challenge.
The group of volunteers who initially spearheaded the effort to build the facility put in a lot work, and “to let this fail would be a disservice to all of those people,” said Yalte.
“The fact that they did build this (facility) 20 years ago, to me is still pretty phenomenal,” said Churchward. “You want to make sure it’s there in 20 years.”
The indoor pools, including the main basin, the leisure pool as well as the hot tub, all reopened in October following renovations that brought the facility to code.
- RELATED: Sundre’s indoor pools reopen Tuesday
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