Orillia Rowing Club members gathered Saturday to celebrate the impacts of an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant it received received last year.
The two-year, $84,000 grant from the Resilient Communities Fund has allowed the club to expand its programs and operations.
The grant also helped the club bring awareness of its presence to a greater number of people in the community. It is working on outreach programs with schools and the Orillia Recreation Centre.
Active membership remains in the range of 50 people, said Fern Splichal, who has been with the club for nine years.
“In the last year, we’ve had probably 115 people on the water,” she said during Saturday’s event at the club’s Tudhope Park location.
Programs that allowed the club to expand its presence include Try Out Rowing and Learn to Row, which are ways for people to learn about the sport without any experience.
Active rower Jane Bonsteel highlighted the significance of rowing for fitness and socializing for various ages. The club has members in a number of age groups, from youth to seniors.
“And you don’t have to be super fit,” she said. “All kinds of people row at all different levels.”
In the past year, the club started indoor rowing and going to schools for year-round activities.
“The grant is really helping us expand our programs. We went from half day camp to full day camps,” said Bonsteel.
With limited equipment such as the types of boats themselves, along with the team of four competitive league coaches, three recreational coaches, and three youth learning to coach, the club has seen some challenges with what it can make possible.
Splichal sees the resources such as the Ontario Trillium Foundation grant as a way to manage those challenges, since the club would one day like to have more members and develop its space to harbour improved equipment.
“That’s an eight,” Splichal said, pointing at the longest rowing boat next to the boathouse.
It was donated to the club about a year ago, but the club has no space to keep it set up due to the size. Splichal mentioned it is, however, ideal for coaching because “you can get more people into one boat.”
The club also plans to transition to one style of coach boat, the older model being less practical. But for enthusiastic first-year rowers Elena Carrigan and Charlotte Petten, these are far less concerning matters.
Although the rower pals will take advantage of the seasonal indoor activities available to them, they are excited to be youth coaches next year and plan to return for years to come.
