With the help of the Drumheller Rotary Club, Hope College met their grant-required goal of raising $300,000 from the community and are eagerly awaiting to receive approval for their Rural Alberta Development Fund grant application, it was announced Monday.
Rotary pledged $15,000 in support, over the next three years, to the college.
“We are absolutely thrilled with the response Hope College has received from the local community. When we received permission to apply to the RADF for a start-up grant, we had less than two months to raise $300,000 in pledge support,” says project leader Jon Ohlhauser.
“We knew our goal to raise that kind of support was ambitious but we also believed the Hope College project was very valuable. We are excited to see local individuals, groups, businesses and agencies have also recognized the project’s potential and we are very thankful,” said Ohlhauser.
Rotary’s president Debi Kennedy said, “It’s a community initiative and we felt Drumheller would benefit from having a destination college here.”
“Our population is getting older and this will ensure proper healthcare for the aging generation.”
Hope College’s proposal to the RADF’s Board of Directors will be reviewed this Friday, and Ohlhauser said they expect to hear whether or not they qualify for the grant by early next week.
“We know that the RADF board does not make their decision based upon a single criterion but considers many different aspects of any proposal before it considers its support. The requirement for a community to tangibly demonstrate its support for an RADF project through something like cash pledges is one important consideration for their board and I am glad we are able to show such strong support,” said Ohlhauser.
While their RADF requirement has been met, Ohlhauser said the opportunity to support Hope College is still open, as pledges and donations are still welcome.
Hope College will be a health field focused school – plans now involve three different start-up diploma courses: licensed practical nursing, physical therapy assistant, and business administration. Currently, they plan to open in St. Anthony’s school once the school moves to their new building this fall.