Curling club gets provincial funds
Posted in News on December 28th, 2012 by Kate Irwin
Local curlers will be hurrying harder thanks to brand new brooms and equipment at the Invermere Curling Club, purchased with a $2,000 provincial grant.
The new equipment includes shoe grippers, curling brooms and sticks to enable seniors and those with limited mobility to push rocks along the ice with ease. The funds to buy the new gear came from the provincial government’s Local Sport Program Development Fund.
“The health benefits of participation in sport can’t be overstated,” said Bill Bennett, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development. “It’s our goal to encourage active lifestyles for all British Columbians. Through the Local Sport Program Development fund, thousands of athletes, young and old, have the opportunity to participate in sport programs of all sorts.”
The curling club first heard about the money through Curl BC, explained Dave Gaspar, who coaches the club’s junior curlers. Mr. Gaspar was originally looking to raise around $4,000 in funding, which would have also allowed the club to purchase new curling shoes for members and visitors to use.
Instead he applied for the maximum $2,000 available from the development fund, and is carrying out alternate fundraising and seeking sponsors to help raise the rest.
“It felt very good to learn we got the funding,” he said. “Our other equipment was becoming out of date, so it’s good to have the new technology.”
While Mr. Gaspar heard back more than a month and a half ago that the club had got the cash, he could not go public with the announcement until given the go ahead by the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development. Although the money was earmarked to benefit the club’s 40 junior curlers, all members are enjoying the 32 news brooms, 40 grippers or anti-sliders and eight delivery sticks, he added.
“The equipment, although purchased for our junior curlers, is quite frequently being used by beginners at our drop-in sessions, and the seniors are using the sticks, so everyone is benefiting from this.”
The curling club has around 250 members, including 40 junior curlers under the age of 16. As the club is entirely funded by its membership, money from sponsors and grants is essential to pay for equipment and facility upgrades.
From the Columbia Valley Pioneer