Everybody into the pool!.
Robbie and Cathy Wood celebrate Smiths Falls landing $99,000 to go towards reviving the pool at the old Rideau Regional Centre, now the Gallipeau Centre, during a cupcake party at their offices on Friday, Feb. 1. Appropriately, they also toasted each other with water, a fitting drink with which to toast a pool!
Desmond Devoy
SMITHS FALLS - Organizers of the drive to land $99,000 for the new community pool in Smiths Falls are thanking their Perth neighbours for giving them the online support they needed to get over the top.
While Perth was originally in the running for a splash pad at Conlon Farm, (organizers are still working tirelessly on that project for Perth), residents in Smiths Falls were busy rallying around to bring back the pool at the former Rideau Regional Centre, now the Gallipeau Centre, for community use.
It was a friendly rivalry but, halfway through the competition to secure funding from the Aviva Community Fund, the Perth campaign realized that they just did not have the votes necessary to get them where they needed to go.
But they did have the votes necessary to boost Smiths Falls’ bid.
“They swung in behind us,” said an appreciative Robbie Wood of W.J. Wood Brokers Ltd., during a celebratory cupcake party at their offices on Friday, Feb. 1. “We didn’t want to split the vote.”
“They (Perth) have been instrumental in that,” agreed Cathy Wood.
Robbie agreed that “if they (Perth) put their (bid) in another year, we won’t put it (a Smiths Falls bid) forward,” as a thank you.
The efforts of the citizens of Perth and Smiths Falls paid off on Tuesday, Jan. 29, when the top winners were announced on Canada A.M.
“They told us ahead of time,” said Cathy.
“There is no way that any one brokerage could get $99,000 for any one project,” noted Robbie.
“But we had to work our butts off for it,” added Cathy.
The duo admit that their hard work would have been for naught without community support.
“We had to do a whole business plan for it,” said Robbie. “(But) The Hub had already done a costing so we just took that off of the shelf,” which definitely helped make life easier.
For Robbie though, someone closer to home made his life easier, and the success of the project more real.
“Without this lady here today, we wouldn’t be standing here,” said Robbie.
“We definitely couldn’t do it without the community,” said Cathy.
Another component that is becoming an important barometer of public support are videos.
“The Aviva representative said that a video would certainly help,” said Cathy, who added that it was looking like “they should be able to open the pool now.”
While Cathy’s cupcakes were delicious, Robbie only realized that morning, as they prepared for the party, what an auspicious day it really was – it was the 48th anniversary of his father buying the company and running it as his own.