Rink fundraising underway

Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter

 

Online fundraising for the new Lions Regional Outdoor Rink officially kicked off on Feb. 6. The rink, which will be located on the Strathmore and District Agricultural Society grounds, is expected to cost approximately $368,700.
To date just over $150,000 has been raised towards the project, thanks to the Strathmore Lions donating $75,000, which was matched in a grant from Alberta Culture through their Community Facility Enhancement program.
“There’s a potential we’re actually going to reduce what our end cost is based on offers that are being made by the public,” said Ryan Parkins, a volunteer board member with the project.
Local businesses have offered in-kind services to help with the project, and “we have got new corporate sponsors who have expressed interest recently, so there’s quite a bit of buzz about that.”
The reasons for going online for fundraising are twofold. It helps create community awareness while providing a place to which people can contribute. It also allows people to see how much has been raised to date, and find out more information about the project.
The day the ‘gofundme’ page launched 3,000 people saw it. Since then it has been shared 379 times across different social media outlets.
Parkins said the fundraising efforts are two-pronged. The public one is through this online campaign. Donations can also be dropped off at the town office.
The second part of the fundraising effort is members of the board are now approaching corporate sponsors with a sponsorship package. Depending on how fundraising efforts go over the next little while, the board may introduce other fundraising avenues at a later date. The board also plans to continue applying for additional grant funding to help lower the costs.
The rink will be multi-use, free of charge and accessible year round. It will be 80feet x 180feet built on a reinforced concrete slab, and will be maintained by the Town of Strathmore under the Parks Department. Go to http://www.gofundme.com/outdoorrink to donate, or to keep up-to-date on what’s happening with the rink ‘like’ the Facebook page Lions Regional Outdoor Rink. The board hopes to see construction begin this summer.