By James Rose
Special to the Pioneer
The Rotary Club of Invermere is proceeding with fundraising for a new community message center to be located at the corner of 7th Avenue and 9th Street, within the Valley Foods sign post.
Funds raised will go towards the purchase of a programmable, digital LED display.
The projects purpose is to more effectively inform local and part-time residents and the visiting public by means of a modern, full colour and dynamic message display of community and valley events, said Rotary president Darrell Smith. Community event notices will be displayed on a 24 hour basis, from both sides of the sign.
The district of Invermere will own, operate and maintain authority of the message centre and will coordinate it with their website.
Examples of what kind of notices people will see include sports events, tournaments, clinics and results; church, school, service club meetings and events; district of Invermere, Regional District of East Kootenay and provincial alerts, and much more, commented Mr. Smith.
The programmable, digital display and software costs are estimated to be approximately $26,000. We are hoping to have the necessary funding in place to be able to install the sign at the beginning of May, said Rotarian Hermann Mauthner, who is chairing the project.
We recently started the fundraising and already have two community groups supporting the project including the Parent Advisory Committee, Rotary Club of Invermere and the Columbia Valley Soccer Association, donating $500 each to the project, said Mr. Smith. Whats more, location structure modifications are substantial and are an in-kind donation from L.A. Fisher Enterprise Ltd., the site owner, said Mr. Smith.
The fundraising is focused on contributions of $500 to $5000 from groups that will benefit from or have a charitable interest in seeing the community informed more effectively.
