ECC 50th Anniversary Snippets - Charitable Giving and Community Service

Editor: Ron Keyser
Date: 2024-02-11

Snippets of 50 years at the Ennismore Curling Club

FEBRUARY: CHARITABLE GIVING AND COMMUNITY SERVICE

This is the first of our snippets of ECC history to celebrate the past 50 years of the ECC. Over that time, the Club has taken great pride in being an integral part of the Ennismore community and the larger Selwyn township. The relationship of charitable giving and community service that has developed has been two-way right from 1974 when community members, Curling Club founders and the Township got together to inaugurate the Club. Since then, Selwyn Township has been a major supporter, and one especially remarkable occasion was during the 2014 renovation when Selwyn partnered with a $200,000 contribution. At the everyday-people level, as well as curling, locals have used the Club arena and lounge for wedding receptions, birthday and anniversary parties, and occasionally, even celebrations of life. Talk about community history? The Club was the site of a giant reunion celebrating the 175^th year following the settlement of a prominent local family.

For several years at Christmas, inspired by long-time member Carolyn Mills, club members have donated countless pairs of sleepwear and other items to the Sweet Dreams program of the YMCA Crossroads Shelter. At the same time, led by the efforts of Heidi Huber and Ron Keyser, club members have provided many boxes of food to support others in need in the community. In July each year, the Club’s huge “garage sale” has donated unsold items to several local organizations.

Bonspiels have been a Club special community and charitable giving feature. Over the years, ECC has been honoured to host and participate in Kawartha & Peterborough District MS Society Funspiels and the area’s Community Care spiel. The unique “Curl for a Cause” was started in 2008 by Sharon Stafford, who with Susan Plant from 2009 ran the spiel for 12 years. On their retirement in 2020 Gail Campbell and Cynthia Guerin took the reins until Covid brought it to a halt. Over those 13 years, “C for C” raised more than $70,000 for local charities and a couple of ECC capital improvement projects. The organizations benefiting from the Curl for a Cause were Ennismore Community Care, Ennismore Optimist Club, Selwyn Libraries, Lakefield Animal Welfare Society (LAWS), Ennismore Horticultural group & Bridgenorth Beautification Committee, the Selwyn Trail system, PARD Therapeutic Riding Association and the Bridgenorth Food Bank. An extra-special “Soldier On” spiel in 2019 raised $15,000 for the Canadian Armed Forces program that helps veterans and serving members overcome physical or mental health injury or illness through physical fitness, recreation and sport initiatives.