Rossland Arena Society aiming to raise funds
By Rossland Telegraph
The Rossland Arena Society and the Rossland Curling Club won’t know the results of their application for a substantial grant to upgrade the arena’s ice chiller until October, but the Arena Society has committed a minimum of $35,000 toward the matching funds required by the grant guidelines. So fundraising efforts are in earnest – if the grant application to the Gaming BC Capital Grants Program is not successful, the funds will be put to good use in other ways.
Since August, the Arena Society has been managing the bottle drop-off at Rossland Summit School with all proceeds benefiting the Rossland Arena.
The Arena Society is also working with Redstone as the 2019 community partner of the Fly Wide Open Golf Tournament taking place on September 14. The Society is looking for community partners interested in sponsoring a hole or donating raffle prizes. To find out more, and to register, go to www.redstoneresort.com/fly-wide-open/.
Darin Recchi, a founding director of the Rossland Arena Society, commented,“We have been looking for a grant to help improve the arena without increasing the financial contribution from taxpayers. This is a good project that could be a win-win for the ice users and for the residents of Rossland.”
On July 15, Rossland City Council voted unanimously to approve and send Mayor Moore’s letter of support for the grant application, and the Rossland Figure Skating Club, the Rossland Senior Warriors, the Boxing Day Classic, the Trail Smoke Eaters, Greater Trail Minor Hockey Association, the Smokettes, Trail & District Chamber of Commerce, Rossland Summit School and local adult teams also supported the application.
Ona Stanton, President of the Rossland Arena Society, said, “Joanne Drystek and Shane Preedy of the Rossland Curling Club were instrumental in pulling together the grant application. Darrin Albo, the City’s Manager of Public Works, was a huge help providing the project details and cost information required. Thank you to the City staff, Mayor Kathy Moore, Councillor Janice Nightingale and all the local stakeholders that provided letters of support.” The application was a true community effort.
Anyone willing to help with the bottle drop-off or the “Fly Wide Open” tournament should contact rosslandarena@gmail.comor send a message on the Friends of the Rossland Arena FaceBook page.
For anyone wondering how Redstone’s “Fly Wide Open” golf tournament came by its name, Redstone was unable to respond to your editor’s query in time for publication.
