The Kemptville Snowmobile Klub has been in existence since 1972 and owes its 47 years, in large part, to the generosity of the members, the landowners, and the supporting businesses. The club runs entirely on volunteers, and the trails on private land are due to the generosity of the landowners. The financial success of the club is due to all of the generous support that many businesses in our community extend. At a recent club meeting, it was decided to spread the good fortune over the Christmas Season and give back to the community, so a motion was passed to give $500 to the Salvation Army, $500 to House of Lazarus, and to top up our Easter Seals “Send A Kid to Camp” fund to $2,500, the amount it costs to send a child to the Easter Seal’s Camp for one week.
The camp fund was started this past Fall and the first half of the funds came fairly quickly. Lately, it was stalled out, but one of our junior members, Rhys Brownrigg, decided to motivate the club to finish the project by kick-starting a bottle drive with over $100 worth of bottles he had collected. The members responded, and three businesses matched the bottle drive funds, North Gower Grain, Cranberry Hill Vet Clinic, and TD Bank. The club ended up with just over $1,000, which brought us to our goal of $2,500. Thanks to Rhys and all of the participants, some lucky Easter Seals child will have a great week at Camp Merrywood near Perth next Summer.
Christmas time is especially exciting for the snowmobile members, since it means that we will soon be on the trails, enjoying our preferred pastime. The club had a very successful 2019 and is looking forward to 2020. We will offer our normal calendar of events throughout the Winter, which will be advertised on our Facebook page. We plan on having the clubhouse open on weekends for members and the public to enjoy some great trail side food. The Snowarama rally to raise funds for Easter Seals is planned for Sunday, February 2, at the Kemptville Fire Hall. Breakfast will be served to the public by the 1st Oxford Mills Girl Guides and Pathfinders. All proceeds from the breakfast and rally go to Easter Seals.
In closing, we wish all of our members, landowners, and the North Grenville and Merrickville-Wolford communities, a very Happy New Year. We hope Santa brought you a new snowmobile so you too can enjoy Winter the way our members do. Have a safe and enjoyable 2020.
