The former gym near General Motors’ CAMI plant will soon be used as a community hug for non-profit groups to utilize (Contributed photo).
Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Rotary Club of Ingersoll has announced a long-term agreement with GM Canada to take over the former CAMI gymnasium, located adjacent to the Seniors Centre in the town.
“Our vision for this building is to transform it into a community warehouse dedicated to supporting local user groups who assist our fellow citizens with food insecurity and other social challenges,” explained club president Adam Funnell.
Revitalization of the building will begin this spring, with a targeted completion date by summer 2025.
“Together, we can create a space that supports and strengthens our community,” exclaimed Funnell.
Ted Comiskey is the former mayor of Ingersoll and a past president of the service club. Funnell said the idea was Comiskey’s and came out of a need for Inter-Church to have a location to put its Christmas hampers together to help those in need during the holidays.
“There was the CAMI gymnasium adjacent to where we have our Rotary meetings and (Comiskey) began knocking on doors with GM and got in touch with the folks in Oshawa. We, along with another past president, Fred Freeman, got together to talk about how we could make it work.”
Funnell said there were many obstacles they came across as they were also hoping to include recreation uses like pickleball but the zoning didn’t allow for it. What it did allow was storage space.
“We decided to push forward on that. Before we signed the deal with GM, we wanted to make sure it was a project that was viable so I would say from July to October we were gathering quotes and meeting with contractors as there is a lot of work to be done inside.”
He added the club figures for $100,000, the site can be fixed up to where it needs to be, and that is when they decided to go ahead with the project. Funnell said they have a number of ideas on how to fill the space.
“I would see STICH (Stronger Together Ingersoll Community Harvest), our local supper club, having a permanent space where they can use with freezers and racking for any of their supplies. The Inter-Church would also have an area where they have whatever they need.”
He added Ingersoll Minor Baseball could use storage space as volunteers with that group are storing equipment at the homes of volunteers due to a lack of space.
“Our goal is to open it up to non-profit groups. We don’t want to be creating new programs, but we want to be supportive of those already in existence. If somebody has a great idea for a new program, we would love to hear how we can support it.”
Funnell said the club is funding the current expenses to get the project going, but they do plan on launching a capital campaign.
“We are having an open house on Feb. 20 at 1:30 and that is going to be an information session about what our plans are for the space, what the timeline is and what we would be asking of those user groups.”
He explained groups will need to provide proof of insurance and anyone participating will need to respect the property and space of other users at the site and the club has another idea for one room.
“We would really like to turn some of the space into a community boardroom for non-profits to use. That’s on our wish list and not a must-do. The first thing we need to do is fix the leaks in the ceiling and then remove the mould up there and replace what we need to. The next thing is to renovate the bathrooms.”
Funnell said there has not been any water flow to the building in about seven years and some of the HVAC equipment needs some attention to get it up and running.
“We also have to replace the entry door which is quite expensive and clean up the vestibule area. We are fortunate to be working with a company out of Oshawa called J.J. McGuire General Contractors. The president of that company happens to be my brother but they are also a contractor for GM who recommended them to us before I let the cat out of the bag that it was my brother’s company.”
Funnell said his brother has already made a$10,000 donation to the project.
“So, we are 10 per cent there with external money. The support from all levels of management at GM has been amazing as we revitalize this building, it was so refreshing. I don’t know why I would have thought any different, but there was a lot of excitement there about a community group taking this on.”
Funnell is hoping, weather permitting, to have those in attendance on Feb. 20 walk over to the site for a tour to show potential user groups what the club’s vision is. He added the project would have never happened without Ted’s tenacity.
“He’s gone into this with the same level of passion he had with the landfill. He travelled across Ontario to force a vote that landfills can’t be in a community that doesn’t want them. He has been our champion. There has been a small committee of us following on his coattails but right from day one he knew who to talk to at GM. We were very fortunate he took this on the way he did.”
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