Brenda Tosczak was a founding member of the Alpine Crescent Neighbour Group formed in the late 1990s. Her neighbours wanted to build a playground for the children of Alpine Crescent. Over the years the costs of building a playground increased, plus many neighbours had moved on leaving Brenda with the funds that they had donated in an account at the Kootenay Savings Credit Union. Since that time her neighbourhood has experienced a major growth of young families with children.
Brenda went from door to door asking for permission to transfer the $3510.24 in the account to the Kimberley Rotary Club. This permission was received. Since Brenda had been a colleague of Rotarian Patrick Barclay in the school district in Kimberley, she asked Pat for help on how to proceed. Consequently, Brenda was invited to present the donation at Rotary’s weekly luncheon meeting on September 3, 2104.
Following Brenda’s presentation, Rotarian Don McCormick who is leading the Club’s fundraising campaign, shared his plans to raise $300,000 needed to complete the construction of the Spray Park in 2015. Kimberley Rotary has already raised $60,000 from local events and supporters like the Alpine Crescent Neighbourhood Group. The remaining funds will come from three different sources: $110,000 from selected corporate sponsorships, $40,000 from grants and $100,000 from an expected online campaign. The Rotary Club has established a separate charitable foundation for the project, which makes it possible to provide contributors with a tax receipt. The official campaign will begin later this fall.