Southwest Facility Foundation formally launches
A well attended public launch of the Southwest Facility Foundation was hosted on April 18 to build additional momentum for the group heading the fundraising effort to assist in the constriction of new sport, leisure and recreation facilities in Swift Current.
Dr. Sasha Godenir, Board Chairperson of the Southwest Facility Foundation, provided additional information behind their initiative aiming to contribute $8 million towards future construction projects.
“We were formed on the premise that if the community organized itself independently in support of future grant applications, those applications would be more successful,“Godenir said during last Tuesday’s meeting.
Godenir is one of the seven members on the newly launched Foundations’ Board of Directors, joining Travis Cuthbert, Dallas Mohagen, Jim Jones, Betty Mcdougall, Vim Parmar and Caitlin Mann as the inaugural drivers of the fundraising efforts.
“We’ve gathered as members of different sectors to rally support from every angle we can to make it successful. By connecting with people who stood out in different industries we hope to create great connections and support from agriculture, oil, retail, trade and professional sectors. By creating personal connections and harnessing the best of the best, we know great minds can create great things.”
She noted they have already recruited a team of 30 people with contacts to all businesses in the Southwest, and additional people have reached out to them willing to help out. The Foundation has started to set up meetings with surrounding Rural Municipalities to garner additional support for the initiative.
“I really want to share the passion of the idea and get more people involved. And definitely the idea is fund-raising and definitely the idea is cash in hand. Because if we can prove to the grant application
folks that we are invested as a community by showing them a number on a piece of paper and a commitment from
our community we’re going to have a much stronger chance. So that’s what we’re rooting for ultimately,” Godenir said.
She spoke about the lost opportunities as a community because of the lack of quality recreational and leisure activities. “There’s so many of us travelling every weekend. We’re spending our money in other communities. What if we had facilities here? What if we brought all those families, all those grandparents, all those friends. You can’t image what the parking lots look like at the volleyball tournaments in Warman. You can’t imagine in Weyburn the beautiful facility they have.”
“It’s not just about my kid gets to swim here. It’s about a whole other piece of the pie.”
“I also feel like we have a huge deficit to a community our size to not having these integrated facilities capable of hosting these events,” she said while listing off Assiniboia, Martensville, Weyburn, Warman, and Moose Jaw.
“Why are we not on par with them? Why can’t we make it work? How can we not benefit from having something like this at home, considering these smaller communities were able to raise $4 million to get the ball rolling.”
“I love our business community in Swift Current. And I love their passion for progression and seeing things thrive. And I know that they’re listening eagerly and wondering how they can help. It’s just exciting to share things with like-minded people that you feel are going to take the bull by the horns and help to make it successful,” she added.
Jim Jones, Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Swift Current and a member of the Foundation board of directors, was previously involved in the 2020 grant application for a field house. He said city administration learned a number of lessons from that unsuccessful grant experience.
“When we didn’t win the last grant we started doing an evaluation of the communities that were winning the grants. First and foremost we found out that there were things that we had to do. We had to go Green.”
The city has subsequently completed a Climate Lens Assessment in order to determine the greenhouse gas efficiency of any new project.
He also pointed to Assiniboia, Martinsville, and Riverview, New Brunswick as communities that successfully lobbied for leisure projects who also had citizen-led fund-raising
groups in place.
Swift Current’s recently completed a Recreation Parks and Culture Master Plan, and through that community consultation they identified the top two facility priorities were an Aquatic Centre and a Field House. And when their 2020 grant application for a Field House was unsuccessful they shifted focus to the Aquatic Centre.
“When we didn’t get that we had actually talked about facilities that were needed. So the Aquatic Centre hit all the targets for the community,” Jones said. “The
Aquatic Centre hits the most marks because it’s the most used facility in the whole City.”
He too noted the City has realized that grant successful communities have all included a fundraising arm of community stake holders.
“It’s not a checkmark on the grant, but we found it’s a checkmark based on who was successful. So that’s why it was so important to have this arm from the community that’s looking into some of the fundraising.”
However, he cautioned that grant applications remain at the sole discretion of federal government officials.
“At the end of the day, the one realization I want everybody to understand, is that when you do apply for a grant, especially for a federal grant, you’re a number until you can get into that top 10. So we’ve all got our fingers, toes, eyes crossed that we’re going to be there this time. But if we’re not there’s going to be other opportunities and we’re going to keep applying for it.”
Godenir explained to the audience of approximately 75 people that there needs to be a committed effort to launch the fund-raising efforts towards new leisure facilities.
“We know it’s time to build and we know facilities are the base of communities. And we are passionate about the benefits. And the benefits are truly encompassing.”
She reminded people to think about a leisure centre from a variety of different angles - collaboration, celebrations, physical activity, physical therapy, wellness, tourism, economic benefits, competition with other communities as far as growth and prosperity, and as an amenity to attract people and help expand the tax base.
There are also the health benefits to having improved facilities.
“When you have a great place for community to be physically active you’re going to bring health and wellness without even trying,” she said. “When you have a healthy community you have a vibrant community.”
“We know that physical activity creates mental wellness, and we know that at a time like this were seeing all kinds of issues in that respect.”
Additional information about the project can be found at Southwestfacilityfoundation.com.