Fall - Stanstead College

ORDERFEST 2009School raises funds for local hockeyand reveals plans for new arenaStanstead College was a major participantat this year’s Border Fest, the Town ofStanstead’s annual celebration of life on theline held July 11.The College has traditionally taken part inBorder Fest over its 10-year history, usuallyby being part of the morning parade. Butthis year, the school opened its gates (so tospeak) to the community, hosting apicnic on the lawn and inviting visitorsto play games and to take partin two community causes.The first was to help raise fundsfor Border Minor HockeyAssociation, the local children’shockey league for players fromboth sides of the border. Everyyear, the league needs to raisemoney above and beyond registrationfees in order to cover suchexpenses as ice time, insurance andreferees. This year, due to theslumping economy, the groupfound itself lower than usual incorporate sponsorship.“Border Minor Hockey is animportant youth organization inour cross-border community,”said Stanstead CollegeHeadmaster Michael Wolfe.“Besides being one of the majorusers of the College arena, they14also share a lot of the school’s values,including health, sportsmanship and teamwork.It seemed like a natural fit for us tohelp in this small way.”By selling 670 hot dogs, 400 hamburgers,chips, drinks and trays and trays of bakedgoods, College volunteers and Border MinorHockey parents raised over $3000 for theassociation.The event was made possible thanks to agenerous donation from sponsor AramarkCanada, which operates the cafeteria atStanstead College.Besides raising money for local hockey,Border Fest was also an opportunity forStanstead College to share its proposal tobuild a new community arena to replace itsexisting aging facility.With an application for funding for thearena currently under review at the provinciallevel, the College was looking for supportfrom the community for the project.With that in mind, visitors were invited tosign a book of signatures, which will beeventually delivered to officials in QuebecCity.It was great to have so many people fromthe community milling about on campus,relaxing on the benches, and enjoying whatturned out to be a great day. As one visitorput it, “You should have done this yearsago.”