EARLTON – A community hub project that is aiming to breathe new life into the core of downtown Earlton is well on its way.
Three not-for-profit organizations — the Community Foundation of Temiskaming, the Earlton Lions Club and the Golden Age Club of Earlton — are partnering on Coeur du Village, or Heart of the Village.
The organizations have purchased the former Grocery King grocery store and are currently renovating it with the intention of turning it into a community hub.
The aim of the project is not to compete with the business community in Earlton but to provide a fully functioning meeting space, retail area and place for producers to bring goods, as well as a place for the organizations to meet and space for the general public to gather.
“We’ve continued work all winter with a small group of volunteers, basically dismantling everything that was inside the cement block building,” said Community Foundation of Temiskaming president Pierre Bélanger in a telephone interview.
“This is a large former grocery store built in the mid-1960s and it’s all cement block construction. Because of course of COVID, through the winter a small group of volunteers has dismantled the wall finishes, interior partitions and sold off all of the grocery store equipment. That’s a fairly laborious thing.”
Bélanger noted that the plumbing, electrical wiring and lighting had been completely stripped out of the building to give the project a fresh base.
The full interior also has been “re-insulated to contemporary standards,” he said.
“It’s Spray Foam insulated, the walls and ceiling, and the rebuild will be completed through all of this. Of course, it was architects’ drawings finalized in consultation with the volunteer groups that are going to be using this community centre.”
SPONSORSHIP
Early estimates had shown it will cost the organizations about $350,000 to complete the project.
While the Community Foundation, Lions and Golden Age clubs put up the original funding from existing resources, he said that South Temiskaming Community Futures Development Corporation also came on board with some technical design and financial assistance.
“Where we stand now today in mid-March is that the work is ready to begin,” said Bélanger.
“The wall studs are put up and the interior partitions are built. We’ve got an unusual fundraising effort, which is we’re asking people to sponsor the wall studs. These are two-inches by six-inches and we’re asking people to sponsor a wall stud for $100.”
Bélanger explained that when you sponsor one of the wall studs, you get to have your name, or your family name, put on the stud.
It will then be encased inside one of the walls.
“It won’t get much of a visual reward but you’ll get a feeling of being part of the walls of the new community centre,” he reasoned.
“It’s been going very well. We have over a hundred people who bought a wall stud.”
Bélanger said that the project already has received a lot of generosity from various donors. Once COVID restrictions lift, he says that the organizations are going to publish a billboard with a list of the names of all the donors and businesses who have contributed “goods or services to the construction.”
LOOKING AHEAD
Bélanger said that the project, moving forward, will also be calling on more volunteer groups to help finish the interior walls of the building as restrictions ease.
“In some cases, of course, we have to rely on professional services but we want to have volunteers to assist them, this would be with the wiring and plumbing and so on,” he explained.
“It’s all underway. We expect that by the end of June we’ll have (the building) ready for opening.”
The Community Foundation of Temiskaming, the Lions Club and the Golden Age Club will all have their offices operate out of the new building and Bélanger said he expects to be able host an official grand opening this summer.
“We can’t wait for the restrictions to lift even more fully so we can really have volunteer groups and meetings in the building,” he said.
Bélanger also wanted to give special thanks for the efforts of two volunteers “who have carried the grunt of the work.” They include former Lions Club president Francois Gauthier and Michel Leveille.
“They’re both retirees but they’ve been actually working every day nonstop and all the physical work, the dismantling, just getting everything ready since last fall,” he noted.
“So those two fellows have been there every day, right through the Christmas holidays, and just have done a huge amount of work. They’re the two key project managers and they’ve really been the ‘heart of the village.’”
