{"id":49811,"date":"2018-06-04T19:49:06","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T23:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=49811"},"modified":"2018-06-04T20:00:27","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T00:00:27","slug":"sixth-annual-paddle-for-fairvern-hopes-to-glide-past-75000-in-fundraising-for-new-build","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/sixth-annual-paddle-for-fairvern-hopes-to-glide-past-75000-in-fundraising-for-new-build\/","title":{"rendered":"Sixth annual Paddle for Fairvern hopes to glide past $75,000 in fundraising for new build"},"content":{"rendered":"

Main photo: Celebrating the launch of the sixth annual Paddle for Fairvern are (from left) Marlene Muller, Dana Murdy (Fairvern board chair), Sarah Robertson Smith, Tracy Badger (Fairvern administrator), Mary Edmonstone (Paddle for Fairvern chair), Tracey Kuusk, Rob Laver, and Rob Barnetson.<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s a lofty goal, acknowledges Fairvern’s board chair, Dana Murdy, but with a new building on the horizon and the need to raise more than $1.5 million dollars for furniture, fixtures and equipment, it’s more important than ever.<\/p>\n

At the launch for the sixth annual Paddle for Fairvern today, she said that this year’s goal is to raise $75,000. The event has thus far raised $156,000 in its five-year history. All of the funds raised will go toward the not-for-profit long-term care home’s redevelopment fund.<\/p>\n

“We are thinking maybe it\u2019s time to rev things up a little bit,” she said. “This is a really lovely old building and it\u2019s been here (seventy) years as the hospital first and as Fairvern second. Maybe it\u2019s time for some new digs. It\u2019s done a lot for a lot of people, but moving on will be really good.”<\/p>\n

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Fairvern recently received word from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) that it had been given the green light to go ahead with its redevelopment plans<\/a><\/span>, including the addition of 20 beds to the long-term care home’s existing 76 beds.<\/p>\n

Outgoing board chair, Rob Laver, said that construction financing is “fairly well nailed down between the District and the Town of Huntsville and the Ministry of Health. The wildcard is furniture and fixtures and equipment, things like kitchens and drapery and beds and mattresses. That number is probably north of $1.5 million.”<\/p>\n

Laver encouraged local residents to register for the paddle as participants or volunteers, and he urged people to pledge for the paddlers and local businesses to sponsor the event. (You can do all of those things at paddleforfairvern.ca<\/a><\/span>.)<\/p>\n

Paddle for Fairvern, which will be held this year on August 11, is a 15-kilometre paddle from Hutcheson Beach to Hidden Valley Beach. Paddlers meet with their canoes, kayaks or SUPs at Hidden Valley Highlands Ski Area (HVHSA) and take a bus to Hutcheson Beach. At the end of the paddle, they can enjoy a barbecue sponsored by Bullock’s Independent and live music at the chalet at HVHSA.<\/p>\n\n\t\t