Hi Neighbors,
Well, we did it. What an amazing facility we have built and what a difference this will make for our community and the S.W. I look forward to all of the gatherings and events we can now host.
There are so many people to thank, including hundreds of volunteers throughout the past 9+ years. The CKE Capital Campaign Committee, spearheaded by Tony Messer and Wendy Kennelly, began this process with a vision of connecting neighbors by providing a quality facility that would better serve residents. Together with the CKE Board, countless community members, and local businesses, this vision has become a reality. We have organized Wine and Whisky nights, Spring Flings, the Big Wheels Car Raffle, the Buy a Brick campaign, backyard parties, wine raffles, casinos, silent auctions, flower fundraisers, art shows, fashion events, recycle days, bottle drives, lemonade stands… the list goes on and on. Of course, we could not have achieved our goals without the help we’ve received from our provincial and municipal governments, and incredibly generous community donors.
I do want to recognize a few individuals who have gone above and beyond over the past year to make this facility construction a reality. Mike Cleghorn, Brent Barker, Chris Doyle, and, of course, Tony Messer, have been crucial in overseeing construction-related activities, and have worked regularly with Centron to manage spreadsheets, invoicing, and identifying priority items for opening. Most recently, Dan Kennelly has been instrumental in overseeing on-site work and contributing directly with mopping, waxing floors, building shelves, laying sod, and a number of other important jobs.
Dawn Messer has played a crucial role in managing countless on-site details, not to mention spearheading the Brick Campaign, boosting Capital Campaign efforts in multiple ways (flyer delivery organization, for example), and other fundraising initiatives that span years back. Most recently, with the help of the Design Committee, decisions like choosing faucets and door handles, tiles, colour schemes, hall signage and graphics, appliance and furniture acquisition, paint colours, CKE Swag, and much more, have been overseen by Dawn. A huge thank you to her for her unwavering dedication and faith in our neighbours to see this project through to the end.
In under a year, the Strategic Planning and Marketing Committee has tackled the job of launching a new website, marketing, programming, budget forecasting, hall promotion, and hiring our fantastic new hall manager, Jen. Thanks to members of this committee for your oversight and planning.
Finally, we can’t forget to acknowledge the support of volunteers’ family members and friends! For every community member who’s sitting at a board meeting or helping with an event, there’s usually another family member or friend single-handedly picking up the slack in a hockey dressing room, driving a child to piano lessons or working a fund-raising bingo somewhere.
On behalf of the entire community, we thank you all for your support. I can’t wait to celebrate our accomplishment with future BBQ’s, Gin and Gym nights, concerts, cribbage tournaments, dance-offs, yoga classes, pickleball tourneys, garden parties, hockey games, board meetings and many glasses of wine and whiskey.
We were always a great community and now we have a great gathering place! Congratulations!
Merritt Ranseth
President, CKE Community Association
