Submitted by Castlegar Air Cadets
The Castlegar Air Cadets received a big helping hand to their continuing efforts to raise money to fix the Cadet hall roof when the Castlegar Rotary Club recently presented them with a check for $1000.
The Air Cadets, who normally call the Kiwanis Hall home, have been meeting virtually as a result of COVID restrictions. The squadron’s normal headquarters location suffered a major roof leak during the fall of 2020, and the hall has incurred significant water damage to both the main floor and basement.
“The cadets are anxious to get back to in-person training,” said Matthew Mussio, the sponsoring committee’s secretary for the Air Cadets. “We are still a ways off, both with COVID and roof repairs, but when Mark Jennings of the Rotary Club reached out to me and asked that we give a presentation about our roof project, we jumped at the chance.”
“It was an easy decision to make. When deciding to support this program several Rotary members spoke about the positive impact that Air Cadets have made on their lives and how it’s benefited their families,” siad Mark Jennings, community projects chair with the Castlegar Rotary Club.
“Also, since the Air Cadets program is a free program for teenagers where youth are encouraged to become active, responsible members of their communities, it seemed like a good fit with our community objectives.”
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The Castlegar Rotary Club has been active in Castlegar since 1953 and exists to improve communities both locally and around the world. Most recently the Rotary Club has been involved with projects like the Pavilion at Millennium Park and the digital mammography campaign at the Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital.
The roof leak, which caused significant damage to the interior of the building, requires that the entire roof be replaced.
“We had hoped the roof leak could be resolved by a minor repair,” said Shelley Hastie, the Cadet’s sponsoring committee’s treasurer, who has been working with the insurance company to address the water damage. “We’ve since been advised that a full roof replacement will be required. And we can’t start the interior remediation process till the roof is fixed.”
But, with the cost to repair the roof at approximately $30,000, the Castlegar Air Cadets still have a long way to go to raise funds. And no small undertaking for a non-profit. The group has submitted and received grants from FortisBC’s Warm Hearts foundation, KSCU and others along with generous personal donations from community members.
“We’ve raised just over $13,000 in total.” said Kirk Ismay, the sponsoring committee’s president, when asked about the roof project. “So we still have a way to go, but I am confident with community support like this we will get there, and we are very thankful to our generous donors who’ve helped us get this far.”
If you would like to support this fundraising effort you can find the GoFundMe information on the Castlegar Cadet Facebook page. For more information about the Castlegar Rotary Club visit their Facebook page.
betsy.kline@castlegarnews.com
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