New home for sports equipment loan program
Equipment donations being accepted
February 15, 2024, 10:05 am
Ryan Kiedrowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
A project five years in the making will have a place to call home very soon in Moosomin.
In a joint effort with the Town and the RM of Moosomin, a sports equipment loan program is close to completion.
“The biggest obstacle we had was we didn’t have a building to house this stuff and the RM of Moosomin stepped forward and they committed to supplying us with a 14 x 32 new building on site,” said Mike Schwean, Moosomin’s Parks and Recreation Director.
The building is one that the RM has purchased and will deliver to Bradley Park for people to use.
“We assist in contributing to capital projects through the Rec Department on an annual basis,” explained RM of Moosomin CAO, Kendra Lawrence.
“It resulted as a conversation between the two municipalities that they were seeking some additional recreational funding, and with the fact that our ratepayers use the facilities, it made sense.”
The RM contributes around $25,000 annually for capital projects, such as the heated pool cover, upstairs bathrooms at the rink, the mezzanine project at the MCC centre and cost-sharing for the rink’s parking lot upgrade.
“We’re a stronger region when we work together and Moosomin and area, this region has definitely shown that we can work very strongly together and achieve very large scale projects,” Lawrence said.
The equipment loan program itself is a simple process based on the honour system.
Sports equipment will be available in the building to use—free of charge—for local residents and visitors. The program has technically been in place for a few years after the town received a donation of skates and helmets for the outdoor rink. There was also a successful grant for a snow setter and a resulting donation of cross-country skis and shoes.
“We make that available at no cost over the winter, people can use it and return it and we just thought it was a great opportunity,” Schwean said. “We thought it would be a really great opportunity to try to offer some summer programming.”
The building is anticipated to be in place in May and there’s already around $10,000 worth of equipment stockpiled for various summer activities. Schwean noted there is a call out for further equipment donations, which may be eligible for a receipt from the town.
“Anything at all you have sitting at home in your basement that you’d like to donate, we’d love to stop by and pick it up,” he said, adding that residents outside Moosomin can also donate and use the equipment.
Some key items he’s looking for in particular are bikes for the pump track, baseball equipment and golf gear. Even outdoor games such as cornhole and ring toss would be welcomed.
“Anything at all, we’re more than happy to come pick up and thrilled to have,” said Schwean.
Strategically placed near one of the community campsites, visitors to Moosomin will also be able to enjoy the equipment loan program.
“So if people are coming through, they can camp right by that area and use that equipment and take advantage of all those different activities,” Schwean said. “Mainly, all we ask is people return the equipment like they found it for the next group to use.”
Anecdotally, there have been no problems with folks abiding by the honour system, so Schwean is confident the larger-scale model will also work well.
“In winter, we had no trouble over the last few years with that,” he said. “If anything, we come back and there’s more stuff! People have been outstanding about that.”
