Lacombe County Council is making a contribution to Eckville’s new playground.
The Eckville Fundraising Society is receiving $50,000 to be put towards the cost of the Eckville Elementary School Playground Redevelopment Project.
The contribution will be funded from the County’s Community Resource Reserve.
Tiphany Eliuk, president of Eckville Fundraising Society, says the contribution brings the society’s funds up to the halfway point. The new playground will cost roughly $400,000.
“The County supports things that helps their county grow and we’re just really grateful that they see us as hardworking and that we deserve it… that our kids deserve it,” said Eliuk.
The Town of Eckville set the pace for the County when they voted to contribute $50,000 to the playground project at a regular council meeting in June.
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“This definitely helps us and we’re maybe a little ahead of schedule because we weren’t positive on how much we were going to get from the Town or the County,” added Eliuk.
The society was hoping to receive $50,000 from the Town because that is what Bentley got during their playground upgrades.
Eliuk said her and the society would have been grateful for anything they got and were expecting about half of what they proposed.
She added they knew the County matched the Town of Bentley’s contribution and were “thrilled” when they received the same results. ‘
The remaining half of the cost lays in the hands of fundraising efforts and grants.
The society will continue to host fundraisers with a bottle drive on deck for the fall. There will also be another big fundraiser before Christmas.
As of now nothing has been dropped from the “dream playground” plans, but the total cost could still change based on aspects such as ground work and volunteers.
LEARN MORE: Eckville Fundraising Society rolling ahead with playground plans
The society is holding off on construction until most, if not all, of the funds are collected.
Eliuk explained Bentley started before they reached it’s total, but had the last $20,000 teed up to come in and were able to get things rolling early.
“We need to build all at the same time because there’s no sense ripping down and then starting little by little,” said Eliuk. “You need to be able to do it all at once to keep it most cost effective with contractors and volunteers.”
The Eckville Fundraising Society is meeting next month to talk upcoming fundraisers.
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