The Lloyd and Elsie Campbell estate will be giving the community at least $55,000 per year. The story started about a decade ago when the couple, then living in Vancouver, were still alive. Lloyd had originally come from Minto, and they donated $20,000 to his hometown. A committee was started to deal with the donation, and they found it would not be the only money they would be receiving. In 2016, when Elsie passed, they found they would be getting money in perpetuity. They received about $27,000 that year and received $56,200 in 2017.
Recently, the Minto and Area Philanthropic Committee made the second batch of grants. The largest is $33,000 to the Minto School. The money is going toward building a larger cement pad on the southeast corner of the school. According to committee member Gwen Wooley, the school will be leasing the space the pad will be on to them for 21 years. There is already a small pad there, but they want to expand the space to make it more usable for outdoor sports.
“They want to use it for a basketball court, and to put tennis or hockey nets on it,” Wooley explained. “It will be like a full size basketball court.”
As well, there was about $2,500 to the school for their swimming lesson program at the SportsPlex in Brandon and $500 for travelling expenses for track and field. There were also a few individual requests for sports equipment and fees, with Wooley commenting on how expensive it is for families to buy hockey equipment on their own.
Earlier this year, grants included money to the Mini Mustang Corral for outdoor toys and purchasing jerseys for the Mini Sticks hockey team.
The money is administered by the Vancouver Foundation and is to be spent on youth and recreation. Wooley said their ideas on what that entails are fairly broad, but the Foundation might not be quite so all encompassing. The two have to always be in touch to make sure everything works.
“We don’t have any big projects right now, but we want to make sure we do the best we can with the money. We have to be sure of every decision we make. We have to think of the community, think of Lloyd’s wishes, what he would want us to do with it. That’s the biggest thing.”
She said unlike the Boissevain-Morton Foundation, they are not having one big granting event each year. Instead, they meet about four times per annum and see what applications there are. Wooley said some decisions might be difficult to make, but it is always a good problem to have.
“It is a good thing for Minto,” Wooley explained. “It will come every year. That’s hard to get your mind around. You have to consider the community to make sure your decisions are in their best interest.”
The generosity toward a small town gained a great deal of interest outside of Minto and area, and that continues. One interesting possibility has now been confirmed as fact. The CBC show Still Standing, featuring Jonny Harris, will indeed be broadcast from Minto.
This began shortly after the Campbell estate money was announced. The show producers originally contacted Lynn Flewitt and he asked some people to help with collecting information about the community for the show to possibly use. Ruth Mealy was one of those who jumped on board. She said contact has been maintained between Minto and the program, and a week ago, they were given the go-ahead to announce the good news.
“I think it will be great for the community,” Mealy said.
The show visits different small communities across Canada, usually those struggling but surviving. Usually, they collect stories from the town, and then they come to film with Harris, who does his own looking around. He will then perform his stand up routine, a sort of toast to the town, in the community itself.
Mealy said a story person is currently in the community, getting ideas and talking to people. Plans are for the show to be filmed between January 15 and 19. The January 19th day will be the stand-up performance at the Minto Town & Country Centre.
“That will be open to the public and we want everyone to come. We want to pack the place.”
Mealy was unsure when the show would broadcast, saying it would be in the summer.
She said she dug around in the history book and other places to find some interesting ideas for the show. There were different people and groups like the Minto Mustangs ball teams, Bill Campbell’s years with cattle, Gwen Wooley’s success in curling. Mealy said those are just ideas and she has no idea what they will use on the show. They will be here when the community gets the ice ready for the annual curling bonspiel, so that might show up too.
She watched all of the episodes last summer from other communities to get a taste of what they would want. It should be a good promotion for Minto.
“There are some very interesting towns in Canada that we are not aware of,” Mealy said. “It’s nice to be included.”
by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff