A group of senior citizens in St. Adolphe have proven that many hands do in fact make light work, spending their summers upgrading Pioneer Hall.
A central hub for community events, Pioneer Hall is called home to much of the St. Adolphe community, but without the efforts of a dozen or so local seniors, the facility would not have had the facelift it has seen in recent years. Starting in 2015, a handful of seniors, ranging in age from 60-80 years old, came together to improve the interior of the hall, starting with phase one of a multi-phased project.
“In phase one they [hired a contractor to] replace all the flooring and ceiling tiles,” says Amber Mamchuk, the recreation director for the RM of Ritchot, who has worked with the group for the past three years. “This year, in phase two they repainted the interior of the facility, installed new blinds, and reupholstered 250 chairs.”
It all started when they noticed some changes that they wanted to see in the facility, so they came up with plans and approached the board, agreeing to take on the responsibility of securing funding and finding bodies to do the manual and contractual labour. Along with obtaining grants through the Manitoba Hydro’s Community Development Initiative (CDI), which provides funding to endeavours that benefit the community, the citizens also take charge over fundraising efforts by holding dances throughout the year. The dances usually bring out 150-200 seniors and have raised over $10,000 towards upgrades for the centre. Spending their summers executing the upgrades, they spend the rest of the year on their fundraising efforts for the upcoming year, explains Mamchuck.
With this summer having only just come to an end, the seniors have already set their sights on next year’s project – upgrading the kitchen and doing some more interior painting.
“The are an incredible group of people who do so much for that facility,” raves Mamchuk, “I don’t think we can recognize them enough for the effort they put in.”
