Island Lake Rowing Club Gives Back
Founded in 1998, the Island Lake Rowing Club was created and has grown thanks to the countless hours and time volunteers have put into the club. The ILRC now boasts high-quality facilities, rowing shells and equipment, which have been made possible by generous monetary contributions from individuals and grants received from the government over many years.
The club has been fortunate to have many in their community give either time or money to the club and with that in mind they’ve embarked on a new club initiative to give back to the community that has done so well to support them.
“Our whole existence is because of the donations and support that we’ve received,” said Bill Stone, head coach of the ILRC. “So, we thought it would be kind of a neat thing to be able to reach out in the community and give back. It gives us a chance to get together socially off the water and build some togetherness within the club while contributing a little back to the community.”
In December, the club planned a winter hike where anyone attending would bring some food for donations to the local Food Bank. While the omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic would unfortunately sideline those plans, the idea turned into entering a team in the Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser, a winter walk organized by the Blue Sea Foundation in many communities across Canada. The ILRC entered a team, appropriately named Born to Row, in their local Orangeville Coldest Night of the Year walk. They completed their 5km hike, which they performed in snowshoes, on trails located on the property of one of their members on Feb. 26. The group successfully raised $2530 in donations for the Orangeville Food Bank, which was the eighth highest total out of 52 teams to take part in the walk.
With their first #islandlakegivesback event under their belt, the club is looking forward to participating in their next one. Plans are underway to incorporate an environmental theme into their next initiative.
“The walk was a really fun event and we’re glad we participated in it,” said Stone. “The next thing we have planned is to hopefully do some tree planting. Our boathouse is located on the Credit Valley Conservation Area, so we’re hoping to be able to partner with them to do some tree planting sometime in April or May.”
To learn more about the Island Lake Rowing Club visit https://www.islandlakerowing.com/.
