POINT EDWARD – A group of fishing enthusiasts here can breathe easy now.
Through an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant, the Bluewater Anglers were able to install a new air-purification system for improved air quality at their Point Edward hatchery. The $21,500 donation via the foundation’s resilient community fund also helped pay for a new heating system and a rear exit door for better flow through the building.
“Without this OTF grant the Bluewater Anglers would have been unable to fund these important capital improvements,” Ralph Eves, Bluewater Anglers president, said in a statement. “This funding allowed the Bluewater Anglers to improve the air quality in our boardroom/classroom and to add an additional door to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 to our volunteers and hundreds of visitors attending hatchery tours every year.”
Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey stopped by Saturday during a busy open house to see the new system.
“The Trillium Foundation does a lot of good work across this province donating money back to different organization like the Anglers and many others,” he said. “It’s great to see it put to good use.”
Don McGugan, the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s chairperson in Lambton, Kent and Essex counties, was also on site Saturday. He said the project’s impact on the environment and safety were factors in why it was approved.
“It’s nice that little organizations can get money,” he said.
McGugan said a group of about 15 assess project applications for the region. Approved projects can receive between $10,000 and $100,000, depending on the program, he said.
A church camp in Forest recently received funding, he noted.
As for the open house, Ron Allison, a Bluewater Anglers operator, said they were hoping to have between 1,000 and 1,5000 people through this weekend.
“It’s been steady all day,” Jake VanRooyen, the hatchery’s manager, noted.
Many of the people coming through were families with young children.
“It’s great for the kids to learn about wildlife,” Bailey said.
The Bluewater Anglers, operated by community volunteers, have raised and released over one million Chinook salmon, rainbow trout and brown trout since 2013, the club said in the statement. The fish are released into the St. Clair River and Lake Huron between Sarnia and Port Franks.
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