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100 Elliot Lakers Who Care choose to fund Grade 9 student project

14-year-old Devin O'Grady wants to build terrain park at Mount Dufour Ski Area
2018-11-22 Devin O'Grady
Rotarion Bill Goulding congratulates Mount Dufour Ski Area Terrain Park project leader Devin O'Grady. Brent Sleightholm for ElliotLakeToday

There were five community projects presented to 75 people at a community building event Wednesday night sponsored by the Rotary Club of Elliot Lake. In the end, Devin O'Grady, 14, a Grade 9 student at Elliot Lake Secondary School, walked away with a cheque for $ 7,700 for his winter sports development project. The money was funded by a roomful of donors Wednesday night at the Hampton Inn.

O'Grady made his pitch on behalf of Mount Dufour Ski Area for a terrain park to be built near the base of the beginner's hill at Mount Dufour.  He said the terrain park will be under construction by March or April of 2019 and should be finished about one year from now in time for the winter sports season.

It will be used by snowboarders who will be in a fenced in area at the base of the ski hill. The money will be spent to excavate the site and apply the terrain park design after trees are cleared and the outdoor area is groomed.

Devin told ElliotLakeToday, "This is just to kick it off and get it started. Everything helps. I've always loved snowboarding and I've always thought it would be cool to have a park. But until this project put on by the Rotary Club, I'd never though I'd be working hard on it."

He added, "It will also contain a mini-park for anyone learning, for anyone who wants to practice. It's going to take some time but with all our community partners, they've all agreed to give us a hand. But yeah, we're gonna work on it and make it an awesome park."

Organizer and emcee Bill Goulding of Elliot Lake Rotary told the donors that the 100 People Who Care format has been used about 600 times in various parts of the world. He told them he thought it was time to use the 100 Who Care format to work a little magic for a project in Elliot Lake. Rotarians attracted 75 voting donors to the event along two proxies to raise $ 7,700 on the evening.

After the five presenters made their pitches, and before donor ballots were counted, there was a suggestion that the event be repeated. Mr. Goulding got a strong show of support when he asked for a show of hands in the room from those looking forward to attending a second community fundraiser based on the 100 Elliot Lakers Who Care format.

Besides Devin O'Grady of the Mount Dufour terrain park, other presenters included St. Joseph's General Hospital Foundation Chair William Elliott for the hospital's CT Scanner project; Dr. Kayt Lackie, head of the Vessel Project, an alternate reality game creative project designed to spread positive news about Elliot Lake; Bruce Lawrence of the Northshore Cruisers Car Club on behalf of Phase Two of the Autism Sensory Playground Project; and Melody Rose on behalf of Larry's Place men's shelter on Mississauga for upgrades to the garage on the site for use by the homeless men it serves.



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About the Author: Brent Sleightholm

As a reporter, Brent has covered everything from amateur and professional sports, to politics, entertainment, police and courts, to human interest stories and government issues
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