Dear Friends,
I hope this letter finds you safe and healthy. It has been a very hectic start to 2020 so we do apologize for the delay in writing you this letter.
Over these past months, we have received encouraging messages from the community, expressing interest in volunteering at the center and curiosity on developments that have been underway since early 2020.
So today, we are pleased to write to you with an update on the new phases of development at the center and plans for the late fall and winter access to our facilities.
Fall Fundraising Initiatives
As we move into the fall season it has become clear to us that we need to invest in reliable equipment that will make our first season a success. Not only from our perspective but for the community as a whole.
Our goal for the fall will be to raise funds for a Skidoo, which will be solely used to maintain the trails and keep them accessible to the public throughout the winter season.
We’d love to ask for your support in this endeavor. Whether it means donating what you can or spreading to the word to your friends, family, and skiing network! We are aiming to raise 10,000 to go towards a skidoo that will be utilized this winter in developing and maintaining ski trails that the entire community can utilize.
Updates from the Board of Directors
While this summer’s fundraising events didn’t go exactly as planned they weren’t wasted. We partnered up with NENSA in July for an annual Royllerski and raised a total of $888 to go towards the fall trail development and improvements for the center.
The virtual event was an overwhelming success. 111 people participated in the event to raise funds for the MOWC. Participants biked, roller skied, ran, and made Roy art. Some even biked and roller skied 71K at one time!
A huge thank you to Jenny Wilbraham for spearheading the event and to all who participated.
The team also spent a good portion of the spring applying for development grants and are in the processing of seeking additional funding specifically geared towards future programs and running the center safely this winter.
A few grants we’ve applied to or are looking into.
- Cliff Bar Family Foundation Grant
- North Face Outdoor Explorers Grant
- Stephen King Community Grant
Trails
The trails at the Center are also progressing. Currently, there are some mountain bike trails available that were designed, created, and built by members of the Leavitt community. Nordic ski trails are also being cleared and built with the goal of having a nice 2.5-3K loop ready to go before the snow falls.
We’ve also made some great progress on the building site, bridges, future trail plans, and had some amazing community volunteer members reach out to support this project. It’s our community members that continue to show up and volunteer their time, hours, even days, and weeks of hard work to make Roy’s dream a reality.
We have been blown away by your support and look forward to the day we can all gather as a community in honor of Roy.
All the best,
The MOWC Board