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Rodeo academy ropes in money from province |
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Written by Caroline Zentner
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Monday, December 15 2008, 10:31 PM |
Lindsay Blackett could well have been called Minister of Culture and Christmas Spirit Monday as he fulfilled the wishes of several southern Alberta communities.
In Cardston, he presented a cheque for $500,000 to the Westwind Rodeo Academy (WRA) and in Raymond he presented a cheque for $1 million for the construction of the Raymond Outdoor Aquatic Park and a further $475,900 to the Village of Stirling for upgrades to its swimming pool.
The funds came from the Major Community Facilities Program, the two-year $280-million lottery-funded program to help municipalities, non-profit organizations and aboriginal communities plan, build or upgrade public facilities.
The WRA will use the money to build a new indoor arena with two separate riding areas on 80 acres of land it purchased just east of Cardston.
“It’s not just a rodeo academy and to help people become the next barrel racing champion; it’s one of those things that helps special-needs kids, which is important in my mind,” Blackett said. “It was one of those triple-win situations where it wasn’t a huge amount of money but it was big for the community and it’s going to help them significantly. It’s just something government should be supporting I thought.”
In Raymond, the funding will go toward an aquatic park with a 3,800-square-foot pool house, pool tank, water toys and sprays, and demolition of the old pool. In Stirling, the money will go toward renovating the existing pool and surrounding area, a new leisure pool and a waterslide.
“These are two pools that really needed to be refurbished,” Blackett said. “(Raymond and Stirling) came together with a proposal to fix both of the pools and reduce a lot of the cost, which again to me made sense.”
The grant allows the WRA, rapidly outgrowing its space at the Cardston Agridome, to move forward with construction of a new facility with completion expected by next September.
“Without this funding there’s no physical way we could have been able to get this program up and running,” said Darren Shaw, WRA board member. “The outreach this program has for special-needs kids, along with the sports performance side of the rodeo academy, is huge as far as the impact on kids’ lives goes. We’re very grateful for this program. In the long run we’re going to benefit a lot of kids.”
WRA president Randy Jensen said the idea for a school was born when he noticed many rural students had no niche, unlike those who played basketball, football, or drama. They started a pilot project last spring for a semester with funding from the Westwinds School Division.
“Their grades went up, their attendance went up and their graduation rates went up,” Jensen said.
When a couple of special-needs students enrolled in the rodeo academy, Jensen saw the need to add the equine facilitative therapy component to the program.
The academy has also received $1.5 million in operational funding from the Rural Development Fund and a substantial donation from the Simpson family.
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