Oak River Scores Support for Arena
With the hockey season shortened to three and a half weeks last winter, the Oak River Community Association decided that depending on the weather to maintain the natural ice is no longer an option.
“Our facility has lots of life left in it, and installing an ice plant for artificial ice is long overdue,” says Tammy Recksiedler, President of the Oak River Community Association. “It's a project that we’re in the beginning stages of because Mother Nature hasn't been kind over the past few years.”
That also means they are in the beginning stages of securing funds for what they estimate is a half million-dollar upgrade, so Recksiedler was pleasantly surprised when an email landed in her inbox from Thomas Heapy, Agronomic Sales Development at Redfern Farm Services in Rivers, MB.
“He knows we’ve been talking about this for a long time, and he knows how hard it is to fundraise and make money and keep our arena running,” she says. “But when I got the email, I was thinking, what is this he is sending me? Then he was calling me at the same time so I thought it must be pretty important.”
What Heapy was sending Recksiedler was a grant application for ADAMA Canada’s Stomping Grounds program. Now in its second year, Stomping Grounds was created by the company with the mandate to invest in local initiatives that support youth, health and connection.
Recksiedler submitted the application the same day and received word in April that it was selected for a $10,000 investment from the program. In early June, they were presented with a cheque by Corey Thorsteinson, Eastern Prairies Regional Sales Manager with ADAMA Canada.
“Handing that cheque over is the best part of this job,” says Thorsteinson. “I always have a good idea of the project and the people the money is going to, but when you are there in the community and see how passionate everyone is and how thankful they are for the investment, that’s a really good feeling.”
Recksiedler says that investments from programs like Stomping Grounds mean more to her community than just having ice for hockey. “This is just all about people that live here and love our community and want to see it thrive,” she says. “We have about 150 people in town and scattered farming families all around us. Hockey and curling and those things are just what bring us together as a community.”
Oak River’s annual Summer Fair is one of those events that brings the community together, and Recksiedler has big plans for the big cheque she received from Thorsteinson.
“It'll go up in the rink here before we have our summer fair here in town,” she says. “There'll be lots of people that are in and out of the rink, so then that'll be up there and everybody will know we got this grant from ADAMA.”
About ADAMA
ADAMA Canada has been supplying the Canadian agricultural community with crop protection products for more than a decade. We offer an innovative approach to ag and proactively seek opportunities to listen to what our customers, experts and colleagues have to say, taking their inputs and learning from their experience. We combine these insights with our expertise and respond with new products, solutions, services, tailored commercial policies, or information that is relevant to them. We are passionate about agriculture and approach what we do as much more than just a job. Our straightforward, get-it-done attitude helps us stay focused on what we care about most: helping our customers create more sustainable, profitable businesses. ADAMA is the seventh largest crop protection company globally with sales in 100 countries and has the largest portfolio of any company with over 270 active ingredients.