» Facility Profile
Saving the Recreaplex
A phenomenal fundraising initiative puts a town’s recreation centre into the black in a big way
BY JAMES BEATTIE
2014, I quickly discovered that the business was in dire financial straits. Three local mills, the electric power plant and several other large busi- nesses had closed within the previous eight years, and many residents of the small town had moved away leaving a population of mostly retirees and very few young children.
W 30 Fitness Business Canada January/February 2017
hen I was hired as man- ager of the Recreaplex lo- cated in Dalhousie, New Brunswick, in September
The continual shrinking of the pop-
ulation and the changing demograph- ics resulted in the membership shrink- ing from 455 members in 2008 to 255 by 2014. Eventually, the dismal membership
numbers, an incredibly old and expen- sive-to-operate power-electric system, and the breakdown of the pool’s heat pumps and water circulation pumps shifted the facility’s poor financial sit- uation into crisis mode. In early 2015, I notified the Town of
Dalhousie that we would not be able to survive another year.
Gilles Morais (president of Recreaplex board of directors), Danielle and Rino Maltais (Chase the Ace winner), Julie Bernard (Dalhousie Rotary Club representative), and James Beattie (man- ager of the Recreaplex)
The big idea Other towns in a similar situation
may have shuttered the building, but fortunately the Dalhousie area has many dedicated Recreaplex members and hardworking people who decided to fight for their community recre- ational centre. Because there are no other recreational or pool facilities in the area, the Recreaplex, sometimes re- ferred to as the jewel of Dalhousie, al- lows people in eight local communities to keep fit and healthy. Instead of giving up, we decided to
run a big fundraiser. Everyone in our area had heard plenty about Chase the Ace, the enormously popular Nova Scotia model that has raised impres- sive amounts of money for Nova Scotia non-profit organizations and at the same time generated some fun and
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