MLA spends the day handing out cash in the community
Medicine Hat MLA Bob Wanner presented a cheque Friday at the Family Leisure Centre for $75,000 toward the Alberta Summer Games Special Olympics.
The grant money is from the Alberta government’s Community Initiatives Program, and can be used wherever it can do the most good by local organizers.
Wanner remembered when he presided as Speaker of the House when the Special Olympics’ torch was first lit in Edmonton recently, and he felt pride knowing, as the local MLA, that torch would eventually end its journey in his hometown of Medicine Hat. He was pleased the government could contribute toward the success of the games in the city and surrounding region.
“When a province and a nation can celebrate how much we have to learn from folks with disabilities, such as those participating in the Summer Games Special Olympics, the value of that learning far exceeds the money. This is part of the social capital which makes us strong,” said Wanner.
Local Summer Games Special Olympics organizing committee chair Brian Varga was grateful to Wanner for all his efforts on the Games’ behalf, and particularly for the $75,000 donation handed out on Friday.
“We’re trying to put in the best Special Olympics that Alberta has ever had,” said Varga. “All of this money will go into the budget to help out with lodging and food and everything else which goes with presenting the Games to the athletes and the coaches ... This money helps us fill some voids we might have had before, and it will help out immensely in our overall budget.”
MLA Wanner also handed out two other cheques Friday. One for about $15,000 to the Medicine Hat Tennis Club to help it repair cracked foundations on some of its courts, and another for $85,000 for Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede’s Carriage House patio upgrade.