The Chapeau Recreation Association (RA) held its annual general meeting on Jan. 15 where a new team was chosen to lead the association through some ambitious facility upgrades over the next year.
President Karie Bissonnette-Sullivan stepped down and Christie Dennie was named the new president.
Shelley Conroy was named vice-president, Karolann Fleming was named treasurer, Keisha Godin continued as secretary, and two new members, Sandy Jennings and Vanessa Paquette, joined the team.
In a phone call following the meeting, Conroy told THE EQUITY the RA planned to focus its efforts on upgrading some of its outdoor facilities. One of the larger projects involves creating a drainage system for the sports fields.
“We’re going to try and work on the drainage of the water from the field,” Conroy said. “We’re trying to find a solution for that since the water just sits in the field sometimes.”
Other large projects include the construction of a pavilion, upgrades to the soccer and baseball fields and possibly creating a walking trail to connect the different areas. Some of the funding for these projects will come from the MRC Pontiac, as well as other donations and fundraising efforts, including $5,000 from the Robert Chartrand Memorial Tournament.
Before the AGM, a Facebook post was made in the Chapeau RA group announcing that the RA’s summer camps will not be held this summer.
Bissonnette-Sullivan commented on the post, explaining there were not enough volunteers to run the program and that, given the RA’s plans to upgrade the facilities, “taking on summer camps is just too much for the active volunteers to take on at this time.”
“It was a challenging decision because we like to give this to the community,” Conroy told THE EQUITY. “A lot of people depend on the summer camps. But we decided that it’s too much for everybody since everybody on the committee also works jobs.”
Government funding for the summer camps was also cut so hiring camp counsellors would require additional fundraising.
“The lack of volunteers to help run the camp is the main issue,” Fleming wrote. “It has been me and [Karie] running it for years and we are just both too busy now.”
Chantal Lair commented on the Facebook post, thanking the RA for their dedication to the summer camps.
“My kids always loved the day camp and all the workers,” Lair wrote in a comment on the Facebook post announcing the RA’s decision on summer camps. “It will be missed by the parents too.”
As of now, Conroy and Fleming said there are no concrete plans to bring back the summer camps in future years.
