OTF Grant Helps Ottawa Rowing Club Renovate and Winterize Boathouse

The Ottawa Rowing Club is amid renovations of the club’s main boathouse. The project was granted funding, thanks to a $149,900 grant from the Resilient Communities Fund Grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, which will allow the ORC to make a longstanding dream become a reality – renovating and winterizing the upstairs of the club’s main boathouse. The grant helped the organization rebuild and recover from impacts of COVID-19 by covering costs of architect’s design fees, acquiring City of Ottawa building permit for renovations, purchasing materials for construction, insulation, drywall, and electrical materials, installing ventilation, plumbing, heating, and plexiglass partitions to provide year-round facilities for retention and recruitment of new members.

“I’m delighted that the Ottawa Rowing Club will now be able to offer its fantastic programming
to rowers of all ages and abilities year-round. Congratulations to the ORC on the completion of
this important project, and thank you for all that you do to promote healthy, active living in our
community.” Joel Harden, MPP for Ottawa Centre.

The club traditionally removes its docks from the river in November and closes the buildings until April. The docks will still come out, but the renovated building will now be able to host year-round athlete training as well as winter indoor learn to row for juniors and adults of all ages, rowing league programs and winter indoor rowing regattas for the whole family as well as social gatherings, meetings and coach and umpire training and development throughout the off season.

“It’s a wonderful start for the additional fundraising we will need to develop fully a top-notch
training environment for all our members year-round,” added ORC head coach Zak Lewis.
It marks an extraordinary boost for the club after a difficult 2020, operating under pandemic
constraints that have continued into the first month of this year’s rowing season. Last year, the
club could accommodate only one quarter of its usual 700 annual members due to provincial and Ottawa Public Health distancing restrictions. As a result, revenue fell by 60 per cent. The ORC, founded in 1867 is Canada’s oldest continuous rowing club, a non-profit, volunteer-driven, community organization annually serving approximately 700 members from 12 to more than 80 years of age from the Ottawa and Outaouais regions. In the summer, the ORC offers weekly day camps and junior development programs to introduce and further develop rowing skills as well as adult programming for all abilities: Learn to Row and Adult Rowing League focusing on team building with friendly competition, a Master’s program focusing on competition, and a Recreational program for general fitness. In addition, the ORC partners with Carleton University and University of Ottawa rowing teams who use the facilities. The ORC also accommodates adaptive rowing in all programs and hosts the Head of the Rideau, an annual fall regatta bringing rowers to Ottawa from across Ontario and Quebec. Furthermore, the ORC’s heritage building has rental space for summer weddings or other event gatherings, where all proceeds go directly back into the club operations. More info: https://ottawarowingclub.com

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations. Last year, nearly $112M was invested into 1,384 community projects and partnerships to build healthy and vibrant communities and strengthen the impact of Ontario’s non-profit sector. In 2020/21, OTF supported Ontario’s economic recovery by helping non-profit organizations rebuild and recover from the impacts of COVID-19.
Visit www.otf.ca to learn more.

For more information:
Val Thompson
ORC Office Administrator
T: 613-241-1120
E: rowing@ottawarowingclub.com

This story was written by the Ottawa Rowing Club.