Three businesses, which are normally competitors, have banded together for a common cause, to raise money for the Barrhead and District Society’s aquatic centre fundraising effort.
According to an agreement the town and county signed in January of 2015, the two municipal governments will both contribute $5 million towards the construction cost of the new aquatic centre.
The remainder of the estimated $13 million capital costs will come from a combination of private and government grants and a fundraising campaign headed by the Agrena Society, which hopes to raise $1.5 million.
On Tuesday, Nov. 24, representatives from the Barrhead Auto Group (Barrhead Ford, Grizzly Trails Motors and Stephani Motors) met with Shannon Carlson, Barrhead and District Agrena Society president, to officially kickoff their fundraising campaign for the aquatic centre project.
The group’s goal is to raise $25,000 by the end of June.
Shawn Stephani, general manager of Stephani Motors, realizes it is an ambitious goal, but is confident the group will be able to reach their goal.
The main way the Barrhead Auto Group will raise the money is by donating $50 from every retail vehicle sale to the Agrena Society’s fundraising efforts. The dealers in the auto group will also be asking their customers if they would like to be involved in the group’s fundraising efforts by making an additional donation.
Dennis Brown, general manager of Barrhead Ford, said as local business people, the group is very excited to be involved in the fundraising effort for the aquatic centre.
“We are really excited about what is happening here. To be able to support the community and give young people a place to go and keep them off the street by giving them extracurricular activities,” he said, adding that even though the group’s goal is $25,000 it is one they hope to better. “Who knows, if we get everyone involved and plan some other fundraising events, as the Barrhead Auto Group, we may be able to raise even more money.”
Brown also complimented Joe Zacharuck, who is part of the Agrena Society’s fundraising committee, for coming up with the idea of forming the Barrhead Auto Group and donating a portion of vehicle sales to the society’s efforts.
Tate McNelly, general manager for Grizzly Trail Motors, said he is also proud to be part of the group’s fundraising efforts, adding that even though the group officially kicked off their fundraising campaign on Nov. 23, all the dealers will make contributions from sales from Nov. 1 when the group actually formed.
“I know as individual businesses and dealers there is a lot of money that we have already contributed to the Agrena Society’s fundraising efforts, but we all wanted to do something a little bit different together to create more interest in the community. So I am really excited to see where we will be able to take this.”
Each of the dealers will donate the money they raise to the Agrena Society at the end of every month.
Stephani said the amount raised by the Barrhead Auto Group will be posted on the Agrena Society’s, as well as each of the dealer’s Facebook pages, so the public will be able to keep track of their progress.
Shannon Carlson, president of the Agrena Society, said he is ecstatic to have the group as part of the fundraising efforts for the aquatic centre.
“We are so pleased the Barrhead Auto Group has got together to really kickstart our efforts to fundraise for the pool,” he said. “It’s really an aggressive campaign by them and that is what we need.”
