Submitted by Selkirk & District Community Foundation
Jen Meixner knows that if you play a role in building your community, you’re more likely to feel like you belong.
As the President of the St. Andrews Community Club, Meixner says history has taught her that, but some of the lessons she’s learned also came directly from a man who was involved in the original build of the club.
“I was talking with one gentleman, who did the electrical, and he said, ‘I could probably look around this building and tell you who in the community did what’,” Meixner said.
“It’s a community-built place and this is a neat opportunity to commit to that, to commit to being a community-built initiative.”
The club was among the 32 organizations that received a Selkirk & District Community Foundation grant in November. The total amount granted from the fall intake of applications was $204,434, and the club will use its funds to renovate a dated and slightly dilapidated canteen.
Duct tape and missing cupboard doors, along with a case of Coke that’s so old it’s cemented itself to a shelf, are reason enough to renovate the canteen, but Meixner says it’s also about building a place the community can be proud of and come to and enjoy.
“The upgrades are quite needed. We’ve got some new pieces along the way, new fridge, freezers, fryers, things like that, but the cupboards, the cabinetry has never been replaced,” Meixner said.
“We’ve got spaces without doors, doors that don’t open, drawers that don’t open, a lot of duct tape. It’s time.”
Meixner says the volunteer board’s vision for the community club is to pay tribute to its past while still responding to a changing future.
“When you think back to when the community club first came into being…it was quite a gathering place and we want to get back to that,” Meixner said.
“This is a really important project. We prioritize projects that are important but also feasible. We are entirely volunteer run…we’re a not for profit, so we have to be creative on different ways that we’ll be able to utilize the space so that we can be sustainable.”
Foundation Chair Deborah Vitt says supporting the club in its efforts to build a canteen and a community is what the grant program is all about.
“When you hear about how local folks rallied years ago to build this club and now the current board is hoping to use local people for the renovations, it just hits home,” Vitt said.
“These are community spaces and bringing the community together to build them, and repair them, and maintain them, is what community is all about. The volunteers work so hard and they work smart, and you can feel the sense of belonging a project like this evokes.”
The grant from the Foundation will help them build a better kitchen/canteen that will allow the club to host more events, even socials, and get the club back to being a place people gather.
“We’re a hockey and ringette community with the arena, but we recently hosted the art show and it was incredible. They had hundreds of people come through, and I think that’s telling, our community is really diverse. That’s something that is special that we need to be a part of,” she said.
“We want to grow and meet the needs of the community. And the community is growing, so we have to anticipate that there’s going to be people with different interests and different needs. We want to be ready to meet those needs the best we can.”
She wants local trades to be contracted to do the work, just like they were in the beginning.
“We’re doing the renovation and we’re also looking at local people who are going to be able to contribute to building that space,” Meixner said.
“I think that when people see themselves in the space, they care more and they want to be there…It’s about building community and bringing people together in different ways.”
Other grant recipients include the Lakeshore Heights Cottage Association, which received a grant to repair a covered structure and pathway in their park, and the Red River Churches Refugee Team, which was able to bring another member of a refugee family to Selkirk from the Goz Amir refugee camp in Chad.
All three grants align with a sector in the recently published Vital Signs Report – the canteen and park renovations fall under Recreation, Culture and Heritage, and the refugee team under Housing and Shelter.
The SDCF is accepting grant applications for the Western Canada Games Legacy Fund and the Community Grant program now, with the deadline to apply March 2. Grant applications have moved solely online. Go to sdcfa.ca for an application. Call 1-204-785-9755 or email selkirkfoundation@shaw.ca for more information.
