Gatineau Valley Curling Club: Transformation into a vaccination center
Here is the beautiful story of Gatineau Valley Curling Club of Maniwaki
In December 2020, the curling club, like the vast majority of other clubs in the province, was facing several challenges and hardships due to COVID-19 health crisis. The government had announced previously new restrictions regarding sporting activities for the coming months. The club was heading at that point for a financial deficit of over
30,000$.
However, there was a glimmer of hope in January 2021 as the CISSO (Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de l’Outaouais) was looking for a site for a temporary vaccination center. The Maniwaki multifunctional center saw this as an opportunity, since the members of the boards of directors felt the club met perfectly all the technical elements of the request. The club was indeed adequate and CISSO selected it as the official site, which took a huge weight off the shoulders of the administrators.
The vaccination clinic was set up for the next eight months and through this unlikely venture, the club was able to make a very interesting profit and secure its reopening. The vaccination clinic was dismantled just over a month ago and the curling club is set to return to its true purpose in the coming weeks.
The Maniwaki multifunctional center is still relatively new and unknown to some people. The center wanted to grow its notoriety in the community and it has succeeded. The 2 main objectives at the beginning of the process were to minimize the financial deficit and to recruit new players. The club had unfortunately lost 60% of its members due to
the pandemic, but this year the membership rate is already at 80%.
To distinguish itself, the curling club organized contests on social medias, including a 2-hour session for 4 people with a trained coach and a dinner in a restaurant. Some of the participants were totally unknown to the club and now want to discover curling. The inspiring story of the Maniwaki Curling Club is a great example of how sometimes you can turn a critical situation into an opportunity.
Congratulations to the Maniwaki curling club and we take this opportunity to wish all members, old and new, a wonderful season!
