On Wednesday, the Lethbridge 2020 Alberta Summer Games Society announced nearly three dozen not-for-profits would be receiving a total of $276,141.61 in funding.
The games were cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and rather than refunding sponsors, the money was donated to help support community, cultural, sport and school organizations.
As well, money raised through volunteer casino fundraising went to the grant.
“It was a hard decision (to cancel the games), and I fought it all the way, but we eventually decided that enough was enough and we would have to leave that project,” said games president Rick Blakeley.
“These people are able to do something special for their groups.”
Darren Williams, president of the Lethbridge BMX Association, said they wouldn’t have been able to accomplish their track upgrades without this support.
The group was awarded $40,000, which will help bring the facility to standard and ready to host its provincial event in 2022.
“It was a huge surprise to us to be awarded this amount of money, we can’t thank Lethbridge Sport Council enough for (helping) make this happen,” Williams expressed.
Forty applicants applied for the funding, but only 32 were chosen. Most organizations are in Lethbridge, but others serve the Crowsnest Pass, Taber, Raymond and other parts of southern Alberta.
“This is going to help so many less fortunate kids involved in and benefit from organized sport,” said funding recipient Matt Neufeld with KidSport Lethbridge & Taber. “It’s a very large number for our small community and we’re very excited to have a part of that.”
“Our team took a big hit during COVID, we lost lots of players, we lost lots of fundraising opportunities, so this kind of gives us the momentum we need to hopefully prepare and start recruiting and planning for the upcoming season,” said Nicole Van Rootselaar with the Lethbridge Steel Women’s Tackle Football.
A full list of grant recipients and sponsors can be found on the Lethbridge Sport Council’s website.