ATHABASCA – It’s a tale of woe that is quickly becoming a good news story about the community coming together to help a group of people who got the short end of the cue stick.
Residents at Athabasca’s Pleasant Valley Lodge (PVL) Fundraising Club got together last November and decided to invest in a quality billiards table from a reputable supplier that would serve current and future residents of the seniors supportive living facility for years to come. They put together nearly $10,000 with the help of outside donations in just 10 days and put in an order through Recreation World Home and Billiard for a brand new, competition size, Presidential table by Delta Billiards — which turned out to be a special order. So pleased were the residents, they eventually decided to donate the table they were using at the time to Wildrose Villa, so their friends in Boyle could enjoy it.
Long story short, Recreation World has closed its stores in Alberta and that recreation space at the lodge remains empty.
PVL activities coordinator Whitney Hollingsworth, along with lodge manager Wanda Loiselle and Athabasca County reeve Brian Hall, who is also vice chair of the Greater North Foundation board, which oversees seniors living facilities in Athabasca, Boyle and Lac La Biche, told the Advocate about the experience in a discussion at the lodge June 29.
Initially, said Hollingsworth, they were given an estimated delivery time of February 2022. The cheque worth nearly $9,200 for the special order, which had to be paid for in advance as per policy, cleared and it was just a waiting game at that point as far as the club was concerned. She kept in close contact with general manager Jay MacDougall, requesting frequent updates on the delivery, which, according to the e-mail chain between the two on Jan. 5, he saw “no red flags that would cause concern about the timelines we expected.”
She asked for further updates Jan. 26, then again on Feb. 25, with a response from MacDougall March 3 that said he had no new news but was meeting with suppliers the following Monday and would advise on the delivery timeline.
On March 30, Hollingsworth once again requested an update.
“I really hope we have some type of news or update on when we can expect to see a table in our building?” she wrote. “I have been getting quite a few questions about it … I do apologize if it seems like I’m ‘nagging’ you about the table, but I like to stay in the loop as I do have to keep everyone else informed.”
He stated he was once again meeting with suppliers the following Tuesday and would advise on Wednesday.
“I have complete faith … have a great rest of your week,” Hollingworth replied.
A week later, another response from MacDougall blamed the pandemic and supply chain issues with material and transportation for holding up the process.
On May 4, MacDougall told Hollingsworth he was expecting an order in July, but after reaching out May 25, June 3 and then again June 7, she received no response until June 8, with MacDougall advising, “Our bank has locked us down and therefore it is with sincerest regret I must inform you Recreation World has gone out of business.”
A final e-mail from Hollingsworth that day, asking for an explanation and what happened next, did not receive a response.
“I was devastated,” she recalled. “I absolutely sat at my desk, and I cried because I felt like we did everything right. We followed all the rules. We crossed all our T's, we dotted all the I's, we did the due diligence, and here we are without a pool table and none of our donation money.”
Hollingsworth had been keeping residents and donors informed, as well as the resident council throughout the ordeal but issued an information package June 14 explaining what had been going on, and telling them of her new findings June 14, after learning not one cent of the advanced payment had gone to the manufacturer to create the custom table, and they weren’t alone, as 35 others had learned the same.
She noted the manufacturer, Olhausen, has been super-responsive, and is working with Hollingsworth and PVL to make the best of a terrible situation and is working on an offer for everyone who was shortchanged by the Recreation World bankruptcy.
Loiselle said being as transparent as possible with the resident council, along with other residents and donors was important but so was keeping elected officials on the Greater North Foundation board apprised.
“We presented right away to the residents and to their families. It's not a secret. Everything is documented and I think making them aware as soon as we were aware also helped,” she said.
“You want to believe the best in people and believe that they're being honest with you and that you can take them at their word,” said Hall. “I think it's really dishonest and there's some things that you may wonder about the person's moral fortitude — it's a disgrace. These guys have cheated residents but I’m also not really sure there's a lot to be gained by spending time being angry about it because we can't know what was going on there, and regardless of what it was, none of it actually matters.”
That said, Hall revealed during the discussion that day a groundswell of support from the community.
“There's a bit of a good news story in this in what it says about our community and the generousity that comes from this information just kind of trickling out and the community filling that vacuum very, very quickly,” he said, noting that within hours of mentioning the situation in a telephone conversation, nearly $6,000 was raised for another table.
Loiselle pointed out the initial $10,000 was raised in just 10 days, and for the community to come through for residents a second time, is just amazing.
“That’s how great this community is,” she said.
“We definitely have a great community base in Athabasca to say the very least,” said Hollingsworth.
