Victoria Curling Club surpasses $75K goal to upgrade critical infrastructure

The Victoria Curling Club (VCC) has announced it has surpassed its fundraising goal of $75,000. 

Furthermore, the VCC has doubled their funding from a generous $75,000 matching donation from Jason and Jeanne Gordon. 

With these donations, the VCC has also unlocked a $175,000 grant from the City of Victoria—making the combined total of their funding $325,000.

This funding will be going towards the club moving forward with a much-needed infrastructure upgrade that will sustain curling and community programming for many years.

Similar to many other aging curling facilities in Canada, the VCC currently uses an old ammonia-style ice making plant. This reportedly creates significant safety risks to people inside and outside the building because of toxic gas emissions. 

Furthermore, the VCC has stated their ice plant has been breaking down regularly and has become unreliable for making ice, causing the club to cancel numerous events because of malfunctions. 

In early April, Councillors Matt Dell and Krista Loughton became aware of the VCC’s ice plant troubles and created a motion to provide the grant of $175,000 from the City’s contingency fund.

The motion was passed, but with the stipulation that the club had to raise an additional $75,000 in order to unlock the funding—which they now have. 

The additional matching donation of $75,000 was an unexpected surprise, but a welcome one. 

“Surpassing our fundraising goal was already an incredible achievement,” said Paul Addison, President of the Victoria Curling Club Board. 

“To now receive this remarkable $75,000 matching gift from Jason and Jeanne Gordon takes us even further. Their generosity—and that of every donor—has made it possible to secure the future of our club. We are deeply grateful for the overwhelming support from our community.”

The funds raised will be going towards the installation of a modern, energy-efficient ice plant, as well as other infrastructure upgrades.