Athabasca – After four years of fundraising, the Athabasca Rotary Club has finished the $250,000 commitment to the Aquatic Centre, which opened in January 2019, with the final $100,000 donation made Jan. 30 following the successful Rotary Celebrity Auction and Dinner held Oct. 28, 2022.
Previous installments of the pledge were donated in March 201, and July 2019, in amounts of $50,000 and $100,000 respectively. The money was raised from casino volunteering, three celebrity dinners, two golf tournaments, and a Montreal Canadiens alumni hockey game, per Athabasca Rotary Club president-elect Natasha Kapitaniuk.
The $250,000 was used for the construction of the facilities, which ran $17,000,000. Originally intended to be spaced out over five years, the club managed to accomplish the task in four. Traditionally, the club focuses on smaller projects, including youth programs, and the maintenance of local walking trails. The Aquatic Centre project was born out of business meetings held by the club during the consultation and planning stages. Current mayor Rob Balay, then manager of the multiplex, brought the idea to his fellow club members.
Now that the club has finished this pledge, discussion has already begun about what comes next. Current club president Dave Liddell said, “there are couple of ideas kicking around, but we wouldn’t want to commit to them publicly as yet.” A list of their current projects can be found on the club’s website, and as always, the club accepts new members looking to help in the community.
The Aquatic Centre came about through a cost-sharing agreement between Athabasca County and the Town of Athabasca. Members of the community and regular users of the facilities at the multiplex were consulted during the planning phase to see what equipment and spaces might be needed. In the end, new aquatic facilities were built to replace the former Athabasca Landing Pool, and workout equipment was shifted to a more aesthetically pleasing spot in the building —multiplex manager Rhonda Alix says that an average of 210 people used the overall facilities a day over January 2023.
