Just six weeks ago, Basketball Nelson was fearful that their home may be forced to close due to a failing roof, but now they are celebrating getting a new one.
Jack Robins Memorial Stadium has been the home of Nelson Basketball Association since the inaugural committee set about to build it almost six decades ago.
At the end of February, Basketball Nelson manager Denise Coughlan told the Nelson Weekly they needed to raise $100,000 to get the roof replaced, but with just three part-time staff, and 2000 basketballers to support, they were short on manhours to take charge of fundraising efforts.
“It’s not really leaking yet, but it’s going to soon and when that happens, we’re going to have to shut,” Denise said at the time.
When, not if, the roof begins to leak, it will destroy the wooden floor, which would be too expensive to replace along with the roof – the point of no return for the building, she said.
Nelson Weekly published an article hoping to spur some volunteer support and donations, but instead one reader took charge and has come up with $80,000 to get the project complete before winter.
Nelson businessman Shane Drummond is a director of the Mainland Foundation and when he read the article, he knew they could and had to help.
“I just think it’s a huge community asset, and so many kids are involved, so it’s actually benefiting lots,” Shane says.
“It’s important that we have facilities for our kids. When I saw this in the paper, that straight away triggered me, I knew this was happening in the background, but I didn’t know the significance of the amount it was going to cost, and the amount that they had put aside.
“In other words, it was a big deficit, so I just contacted our guys. I said, ‘this will be a great community opportunity of magnitude’, because it is.”
The Mainland Foundation is a gaming trust that distributes funds back to the community, generated from its two gaming venues in the region – Stoke’s Turf Hotel and The Stables in Richmond.
Shane approached the board, who contacted Denise for more information and encouraged her to apply for funding, and last week, she got the phone call that the committee had approved $80k for the project.
“It was clear to the committee, that this was an urgent job,” says Mainland Foundation chief executive Nick Kouloubrakis.
“As we all know, the Nelson winters can be harsh with wild weather and a leak in the roof could damage the expensive floor below. [We] also recognised that basketball in the region was strong and that if the venue was out of commission for any length of time it would lead to players, both young and old, having their seasons disrupted. Therefore, $80k was approved at our meeting of 2 April.”
Denise was stoked with the outcome.
“It’s awesome. My biggest fear was that she was going to leak, and then we were going to lose this (the wooden floor). And this is beautiful.
“It’s taken a lot of pressure off, because fundraising nowadays is extremely hard, and we don’t have a huge pool of volunteers, so it is generally left to the staff to do it with a few other people.”
She says the contractors booked to complete the job have been extremely generous, assisting with discounted rates which means they can get the work done immediately, even though they need to raise a little bit more as a buffer.
“The Mainland Foundation, and its venues The Turf Hotel and The Stables, are very proud to provide major support for the replacement of the roof at the stadium,” Nick concludes.
The new roof will be installed in time for the start of the winter league.
