After more than 600 hours of volunteer effort from September to December, backing from 56 sponsors and tremendous support from the South Delta community, the Rotary Club of Ladner has generated $21,000 to go projects for children and youth through its 10th annual calendar sales.
Proceeds will be allocated mainly to the proposed new water park in Ladner's Memorial Park, in partnership with the Corporation of Delta, and to the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards for young leader development.
Also benefitting from calendar sales were Delta Life Skills and a Ladner parents' advisory committee, which sold calendars on a 50/50 revenue split basis.
Rotary Club of Ladner president Peter Roaf said the club had been working with the Corporation of Delta over the past year and various sponsors and donors to define and pay for the project. It will replace the almost 30-year-old water play area in Memorial Park originally sponsored by Kinsmen and the municipality.
"We know this project will benefit children, their parents and grandparents in Ladner and the entire region," Roaf said. "Not only that, the new facility will conserve water, provide a safer facility for the kids and include an educational component regarding the farming community which is such an important part of our heritage in Ladner. The proceeds from the calendar sales will make an important contribution to this new facility."
Roaf said that a second beneficiary of calendar ales proceeds is the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), a program of Rotary clubs around the world.
"RYLA is a program which focuses on local youth as an investment in the future strength of our community," Roaf said. "It is an opportunity for a few local youth selected to participate in a four-day, leadership camp to network and learn with others all at no cost thanks in part to these calendar sales. proceeds"
