Munson Community Association members, (l-r) Becky Kowalchuk, Mary Daly, Dave Daly, and Jessica Sharpe, with a little help from their friends and supporters, announcing Munson’s selection of Cassils Community Centre as the next community group to receive $50,000 in the UFA Get n’ Give Contest. Cassils is about an 11 kilometre drive from Brooks.

It was a packed house at the Munson Community Hall Tuesday night, as the Munson Community Association selected Cassils Community Centre as the next recipient in the UFA Get n’ Give Contest.
    Association president Becky Kowalchuk spoke about how it felt for Munson to both receive the money, as well as to be able to select the next community to receive $50,000.
    “It feels amazing. It takes a lot of turkey suppers and bottle drives to make $50,000.  UFA is amazing to be doing this for the communities across Alberta, and giving those communities that win the opportunity to give back. It really, truly feels like we get to give to other communities, and help them make their dream and their goals come true.”
    She said selecting the next prospect was difficult and the numbers were close in the judging of the five community submissions for this round.     
    What stood out with Cassil’s submission, she said, was their creativity and their story.
    Cassils is about an eleven kilometre drive from Brooks.
    Crystal Mulvey, Secretary of the Board and Building Committee Member for Cassils Community Centre said being selected is wonderful, and the group is pretty excited about the money they’ll be receiving to help build their new hall.
    “Our original hall that we have now was built in 1923, and started as a school-it was the area school. And then in 1961, it became the community centre.”
    Mulvey said there have been additions to the building over the years, including a kitchen addition in 1980, noting the centre “It’s basically been the hub of our community since then.”
    She said age and a high water table a few years ago have deteriorated the building, and Cassils hopes are that by this fall, they  will be putting a shovel in the ground to start construction on their new community hall.
    Over four years of fundraising and with receiving the $50,000 in the UFA contest, Cassils Community Centre is now at $900,000 of their million dollar funding goal, Mulvey said.
    And as for the Munson Community Association, Becky Kowalchuk said the group is at eighty per cent of their fundraising goal, and is waiting on some other funding. If all the right pieces fall into place, she said Munson should be able to break ground on the new hall some time this spring.