The Water Ridge Park Playground Committee received a huge boost with the receipt of a $90,000 grant from Federated Co-op through its Community Spaces program. Community Spaces provides critical funding to community projects through its annual donations efforts throughout western Canada. One of fifteen projects in the west and one of only five selected in the province, the award gives the Water Ridge Park Playground Committee the funding to complete their pickleball court and playground combo.

Brent Walker, general manager of the Humboldt Co-op, talked about the importance of Community Spaces funding in cities and towns like Humboldt. 

“The Community Spaces program is something that Federated Co-op has been doing for about nine years now. Around $10.5 million has been donated through the sustainability program. Fortunately, Humboldt was able to get one of those projects for $90,000.”

The Committee put its proposal together for the Community Spaces funding during what has been an extremely successful fundraising campaign. The Water Ridge project was one of 1,000 submissions received by Federated Co-op, says Walker. 

“It is great to see another nice playground being built in Humboldt. It accents this awesome area with the water park, nice walking trails, and the Library’s Story Book Trail. We are just so happy to be a part of this.”

The excitement is shared by the Playground Committee members themselves as they see their labours begin to take shape. The base and the fencing for the pickleball court is in place with the next step being the court’s rubberized surface being applied once the concrete is cured. The Community Spaces funding brings the total raised to $201,750, allowing the group to enhance the playground structure. 

“It was super exciting for our committee when we got the news that we were chosen as one of the recipients to receive the grant,” says Breanna Landry of the Water Ridge Park Committee. “Our project will be completed this summer. We have our playground structure on order and we’re on track for completion.”

The Co-op was not the only organization to contribute. Kal Tire’s Replay Fund also committed $10,000 to the project which will be used for the addition of a rubberized play surface at the base of the equipment. The structure itself will be provided and installed by 1 Stop Playgrounds from Humboldt. 

Committee members are grateful for the support and proud of the fact that from the start of fundraising to the final touches will be under a year.