The ground has officially been broken for the new home of Battlefords Trade and Education Centre.
The groundbreaking took place at the corner of Railway Avenue and 105th Street, where the new building will be built.
The new facility will replace the century-old former armoury building where BTEC has delivered its programming for special-needs adults for almost 50 years.
The groundbreaking ceremonies brought out participants in the BTEC programming as well as numerous community members and leaders.
For those involved in the long process towards getting a new building constructed it was a long-awaited day, following an intensive fundraising campaign that has been running for seven months.
“Something I’ve learned in these last couple months is that the Battlefords do really care,” said Mona Leece, BTEC executive director. “It was just such a quick fundraising campaign and everybody gave what they could and we’re very happy and very excited for this day.”
A fundraising campaign, called My Community Cares, has been under way to raise the $2.3 million for the new facility.
There were some major announcements of contributions at the groundbreaking event. A donation of $25,000 in initial funding was announced from the RBC Foundation, along with an additional $330 raised from their golf tournament.
Mac Driscoll of RBC also announced they were able to provide financing to begin the project right away.
The BATC Community Development Corporation also made a big contribution of $200,000 towards the project. The announcement was made by Saulteaux First Nation Chief Kenny Moccasin.
The biggest donation announcement was from longtime BTEC supporters Pius and Ida Pfeifer, who are making a $500,000 contribution to BTEC.
In honor of the donation the facility will be named the Pius and Ida Pfeifer Building.
The shovels used for the ground-breaking ceremony were hand-painted by BTEC participants, and included handprints with a picture of the old building and the new building.
In recognition of the founders of BTEC, Robert Clipperton and Liz Amos, widow of Don Amos, had the honour of turning the sod.
The expectation now is that the building will be going up quickly. My Community Cares co-chair Heath Gabruch told the audience they had received approval to invite tenders for the building and that those tenders will be sent out next week.
It was announced Lyle Schell has agreed to be the management contractor for the project. The expectation is construction will take 12 months.
