NEWS RELEASE
SOUTH NIAGARA ROWING CLUB
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On Friday, April 12, MPP Jeff Burch met with the team at South Niagara Rowing Club (SNRC) to hear more about the $149,800 Resilient Communities Grant from the provincial government’s Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) that was used to construct a new training equipment room and hire a General Manager. This project helped support SNRC’s continuing recovery from COVID and will greatly enhance the quality, availability and variety of programming that SNRC will be able to offer to all South Niagara residents.
“I’m really pleased South Niagara Rowing Club received this significant grant,” said Burch, MPP for Niagara Centre. “The club’s dedicated volunteers have worked hard over nearly five decades to ensure people from all walks of life have an opportunity to get involved in a sport that rewards the body and the spirit in so many ways. This funding has allowed the club to recover from COVID-19 closures, and to set up for continued success with a full time General Manager and a year-round indoor training facility.”
This grant allowed the hiring of a full time General Manager to manage COVID related tasks on an on-going basis and help establish an athlete recruitment initiative to start rebuilding the youth programs. SNRC was also able to complete the first phase of a future on-site training centre by enclosing an existing outdoor pavilion to create an indoor training equipment space.
“The pandemic took an incredible toll on our youth programs and this funding allowed us to start the recovery process as well as provide critical funding to allow us to move one step closer to building a future on-site training centre,” said Kevin Fuller, SNRC President. “That coupled with our phenomenal 4 km waterway, SNRC is on a path to become one of the top learning and development centres for rowing in Canada, for both athletes and coaches.”
For more than 48 years, SNRC's mission has been to bring new participants, of all ages, into the sport of rowing, to develop their fitness, athleticism and rowing skills, and to further their interest, involvement and achievement in rowing. SNRC offers both recreational and competitive outdoor rowing programs for people of all ages and abilities and is fully committed to providing quality public rowing opportunities to the entire South Niagara community.
“Non-profit organizations across Ontario deliver programming that makes a difference,” said Neil Lumsden, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport. “That’s why funding that my ministry is providing through the OTF is so important. Our government wants to ensure that these programs and spaces remain the heart of communities across our province.”
The Ontario Trillium Foundation’s (OTF) mission is to build healthy and vibrant communities across Ontario. As an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations, last year, OTF invested over $110M into 1,022 community projects and partnerships. Visit otf.ca to learn more.
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