Manitoba Clubs Among Monsanto's Imagaine a Better House Contest Winners

Tuesday Mar 02 2010

Moosomin Curling Club takes home grand prize in 'Imagine a Better House' community curling club improvement program sponsored by Monsanto

Curling clubs in Wawanesa, Ethelbert, and Eriksdale were among the  recently announced recipients of funding from Monsanto under their 2009-10 Imagine a Better House program.                
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(Monsanto release) The Moosomin Curling Club located in Moosomin, Saskatchewan is this year's $10,000 grand prize winner of Monsanto Canada's "Imagine a Better House" Community Curling Club Improvement contest.  The 150-member curling club was established in 1950 but has a long standing tradition with the sport, dating back to 'pond curling' in the 1800s.  The Moosomin Curling Club was chosen as this year's winner due to their commitment to the sport of curling and an active membership that has put in a lot of volunteer hours and sweat equity to keep their curling club strong and viable.    

"We just couldn't believe it when we got the call and obviously we are extremely happy to have our local club chosen as this year's winner. We feel quite honoured to be recognized as a club with a future and one worthy of getting this support to help prolong our future," said Deanna MacDonald, president of the Moosomin Curling Club. "We plan to update some of our outdated equipment that is in dire need of replacement and just want to thank Monsanto Canada so much for the help!"

Second prize of $5,000 went to the 2-sheet, St. Front Curling Club located in the tiny hamlet of St Front, Saskatchewan.  St. Front - located about two hours east of Saskatoon - has a population of only 20, but the local curling club has been successful in drawing over 180 curlers to their leagues and bonspiels. And as is the case in most small communities, the curling club in St. Front also serves as an important social gathering place for people in town and those from surrounding communities.

Eight (8) other curling clubs from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta also took home cash prizes of $2,000 to assist with a wide array of improvement projects at their local clubs.

All applications received between Oct. 31, 2009 and Jan. 15, 2010 were reviewed by an independent panel of judges that included: Kathryn Larsen, account executive with ProMar Management Services; Resby Coutts from www.thecurler.com; Trish Jordan, public affairs director with Monsanto Canada; and Shane Ray, executive director of CurlManitoba.
 
"This program is one that we are very proud of but it is always a challenge to pick out the winners. In reality, every single entry was deserving of some assistance," said Jordan. "The Moosomin Club has already done a lot of patching and fixing to keep their club alive and they had some great ideas for the future. They also have a lot of different leagues, bonspiels and programs that aim to appeal to a wide range of demographics. I think this level of activity and all the work they have put in on their own is what swayed the judge?s in their favour!"

Monsanto launched its 'Imagine a Better House' Community Curling Club program in November 2008 with the aim of assisting small-town curling clubs in Western Canada with local improvement projects. Applicants were required to provide information about their club, the community in which it resides and why the curling club was in need of assistance. When this year's funding of $31,000 is combined with cash awards given out in 2008 and 2009, Monsanto has been able to provide over $190,000 in cash awards to 70 different rural community clubs across the Prairies.

Monsanto is an agricultural company and a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality.  Monsanto remains focused on enabling both small-holder and large-scale farmers to produce more from their land while conserving more of our world?s natural resources such as water and energy. You can learn more about our business and our commitments at www.monsanto.ca. 
          
Grand Prize Winner $10 000......MOOSOMIN CURLING CLUB, MOOSOMIN SK
$5 000 Winner.....ST. FRONT CURLING CLUB, ST. FRONT SK
$2 000 Winner.....BRUNO CURLING CLUB, BRUNO SK
$2 000 Winner.....CODETTE AND DISTRICT CURLING CLUB, CODETTE SK
$2 000 Winner.....CURLING CLUBS OF WAWANESA, WAWANESA MB
$2 000 Winner.....EMPRESS CURLING CLUB, EMPRESS AB
$2 000 Winner.....ERIKSDALE CURLING CLUB, ERICKSDALE MB
$2 000 Winner.....ETHELBERT CURLING CLUB, ETHELBERT MB

INNISFAIL CURLING CLUB, INNISFAIL AB

SNOWDEN CURLING CLUB, SNOWDEN SK

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