The Bonnyville Seniors' Society is crossing their fingers for a provincial grant to complete some much-needed repairs.
Their building's aging flat roof has seen better days, and is starting to leak.
President of the seniors' society Germaine Prybysh explained it needs to be re-tarred before it gets worse, but that comes at a cost of $20,000.
“It depends on which direction the rain is coming from, but it's been going on for a year or two... We have three portions to the roof – the big hall, the little hall, and the one in between where we have the pool room and garage for the seniors' bus. That one, the roof in the middle, is the one we're looking to re-tar.”
While the project will have to wait until spring at the earliest, the sooner the society can start planning for it the better.
“If we don't get much snow there won't be much of an issue, but if we get a lot of snow the spring is going to be interesting. It's going to leak in certain areas and we're going to be mopping up puddles,” said Prybysh. “It doesn't affect our activities, but like any building or home, if you don't maintain it it's just going to propagate and get worse.”
Last week, the society had a request in front of both town and MD councils, asking for a letter of support for their Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) grant application. Both councils voted to support the seniors' society in their plight to secure some funding.
The CFEP is a matching grant, meaning the group will have to do some fundraising in order to raise the other half of the money, should they be successful. They are asking for around $20,000, bringing the total budget for upgrades and repairs up to $40,000.
In addition to the repairs on the roof, the society is also hoping to put the CFEP money towards a new industrial oven. Prybysh said they've been comparing prices since the over 20-year-old oven started to fail two months ago. They're looking at a price tag of about $15,000.
“Even though we may not cook as much as we used to, an industrial stove is imperative for our pancake breakfasts, which we do monthly. We do provide meals for fundraisers to help pay the bills. Running a facility this size is really expensive, the utilities alone are $2,000 to $3,000 per month. That's all paid for by fundraising.”
Now that they have the support of the town and MD, the seniors' society will be sending in their application in the next round of submissions.
Prybysh has her fingers crossed that the government will recognize how important the seniors' centre is to the community, and how much they need the funding.
“This is a place the seniors love to come and to visit and to socialize; it's very important to seniors to have their centre and we're one of the bigger centres in this area… We really need the Alberta government to step up and help us out.”
Prybysh expects to know in the spring if the society was successful with their application.
