The volunteer organization hoping to overhaul the 87-year-old Crawford Ball Hall is within $177,000 of its fundraising goal.
Crawford Bay & District Hall & Parks Association director Leona Keraiff said the terms of a grant they received from the Clean BC Communities Fund will pay for 65 per cent of the $2.17 million project if they can raise the other 35 per cent.
When we last checked in with them in February, the association had $235,000 left to secure. They have since raised raised another $58,000.
Keraiff said they have applied for other grants to narrow the gap. While local businsess and residents have indicated a willingness to provide further support, they are not trying to to press too hard at this stage, as “we’ve been asking local people to reach into their pockets for six years.”
The hall association is trying to get word of the project out beyond the East Shore, to former residents and visitors who might have fond memories of the hall, or to people who have chosen the building for weddings or family reunions.
“So many people grew up here, and their family stories and their family histories reside within the hall,” Keraiff said. “They’ve moved further afield. We have a Facebook page and we hear from some of them periodically and some of them of course have supported us with donations and gifts.”
Keraiff said she is “extremely optimistic” they can meet their target and hope to start within the next few months.
“Of course, the project has to be tendered first,” she said. “If we don’t have every penny in place, it’s possible to reduce the scope of the project a bit so that the monies we have will be our 35 per cent, so that we can indeed begin rather than put it off another year or more.”
Plans call for new Hardie board siding, ensuring the building meets FireSmart standards, improving energy efficency by adding an air source heat pump, a better HVAC system, and new doors and windows. A new entryway will also be built and accessibility will be improved for wheelchairs and people with mobility issues. They further plan to add historical displays to tell the story of the community members who have used the hall since it was built by 54 volunteers over the course of six months in 1938.
“A community hall is really the living room of a community in a lot of ways,” Keraiff said. “So many things happen here. It’s a gathering place and people do come from quite far. So there’s a lot of great reasons to do this restoration and go further afield to garner support from other people and businesses.
“It’s about community pride. We hope other people will feel as we do about the value of this community space and support our efforts to to repair it and have it last for many more decades.”
The association is a registered charity and can issue tax receipts. Donations can be mde at cbhall.ca or by mailing a cheque to the Hall Reno Fund at Box 71, Crawford Bay, V0B 1E0.
