The committee realized an aggressive fundraising effort would be necessary so they kicked off their campaign. Unfortunately, COVID has put a damper on a number of planned activities but the community has stepped up in a big way.
According to Hillcrest Board President Jackie Kirkup despite restrictions governing how they can fundraise, the donations are coming in.
“The support that Hillcrest is seeing right now is overwhelming, heartwarming, and quite frankly, I’m flabbergasted” she stated on June 2. “The people that have stepped up to support this project are amazing and we are so happy to see it.”
In fact, donations in the amount of over $50,000 have come in. This is from mostly local people and businesses, according to Kirkup but there have been some donations come from outside the community as well. To date the committee has not received any municipal, provincial or federal grant money and Kirkup says that if they are fortunate to receive anything in the fundraising stream, they will be very close to their target.
“When we had our meeting last week, I just looked around the room at the people who are taking on this project and I was so proud of them,” Kirkup said. “They are working so hard for this community and they love the museum. They are a terrific group of people and so are the people who are stepping up to help the museum.”
Kirkup says that some of the letters received along with donations strike at her heart. One person wrote that they had fond memories of coming to Souris as a little girl and going to the museum with her grandma. Reading about Hillcrest brought those memories back and she wanted to acknowledge that. Another person just thinks that history is so important in a community and wanted to help. They had no connection, just love history and recognized that it was important to support it with a donation.
“The little notes that accompany donations are so sweet and we realized that Hillcrest is more than just a building,” explained Kirkup. “It’s a place that stirs memories and we have to protect it for many more years.”
For now, the board is going to keep slugging away at their target goal and hope to hear word on grant money that will push them closer. The board is looking at two quotes for repairs and once a final decision is made they will proceed with repairs.

by DARCI SEMESCHUK, Recorder Staff