The Village of Hussar found a creative way to show the UFA how they would use five million pennies and for their effort, they won the top prize in the inaugural UFA Rural from the Roots Up - Get 'n' Give contest.
    The Village has won  $50,000 from UFA for renovations to their hall.

Hussar won the first prize of $50,000.00 in the UFA Get N Give Contest.  UFA employees Yvonne Comstock (left) and Ken Scott accept a token of appreciation from Hussar Hall and District Maintenance Society president Peter Sanden.

    “Our community hall is the cornerstone of our community. It is necessary to maintain this gathering place as a way to knit the past, present and future of our community together, to keep us connected and remind us where we come from. This money will help us achieve our goals and be a lasting legacy for UFA in keeping rural Alberta strong!” said Wendy Kaiser, Hussar & District Hall Maintenance Society.
    The community’s entry consisted of a write up on how they would use the funds, and it was accompanied by a video. The video consisted of a guitar-playing troubadour heading out into the village to find out how it would spend $50,000. The jingle was played to the tune of the Bare Naked Ladies song If I Had a Million Dollars.
    The community has been working hard on its fundraising to renovate its hall. Saturday night they held a Steak Fry party at the hall and recognized some of its supporters, including Husky who gave $50,000, Richardson Pioneer has donated $50,000 and CNRL has given $20,000 so far to the project.
    “We are going to have a donor wall in our hall and we’ll have different increments to recognize each sponsor,” said committee member Pam Collett.
     A unique aspect of the contest is that Hussar now plays a role in who else will benefit.
    "It is called The Get 'n' Give Contest and we have gotten.  We received $50,000 for winning first place, and now we give. UFA has picked five semi finalists, and from them, we pick who the next prize winner will be,” said Collett.
    “We know the five that have been selected and we will choose the second place winner. At a later date the second place winner will pick the third prize winner. So, UFA ends up giving away three prizes of $50,000."
 Still in the running are Byemoor, Alberta – Sullivan Lake West Agriculture Society, Clive, Alberta – Neighbourhood Revitalization Group, Foremost, Alberta – Foremost Minor Hockey, Seniors and Legacy Bridge Committee, Hand Hills, Alberta – Hand Hills Lake Community Club and Springdale, Alberta – Liberty Hall Society.
     “We are overwhelmed by all of the entries,” said Bob Nelson, President and CEO of UFA Co-operative Limited. “There are many deserving and heartfelt stories of what rural communities would do with $50,000 dollars, but Hussar just went that extra mile. I think every person in that whole village was singing in the video!”
    To see the video, visit www.getngiveufa.com/getngive_contest/hussar-district-hall-maintenance-society/#.UnAGOCTJLRY.

    The Alberta Department of Municipal Affairs  has  legislation that could make it easier for municipalities and social housing authorities to tackle projects.
    The Honourable Doug Griffiths, Minister of Municipal Affairs was in Drumheller on Friday, October 25 to meet with the Drumheller Housing Administration as well as Mayor Terry Yemen and Councillor Jay Garbutt, who is a Member of the Housing Authority.  Minister Griffiths was also joined by MLA for Calgary-Fort Wayne Cao, MLA for Edmonton Gold Bar David Dorward and MLA for Edmonton Riverview and Chief Government Whip Steven Young.

The Drumheller Housing Administration  had a number of visitors last Friday when Alberta Government MLAs came through to talk about  some changes that affect Housing Authorities. At the meeting were (l-r) councillor Jay Garbutt, MLA  David Doward, Minister of Municipal Affairs Doug Griffiths, Mayor Terry Yemen, MLA Steven Young, MLA Wayne Cao,  Bob Sheddy of the Drumheller Housing Administration and CAO Ray Romanetz.

    Minister Griffiths said their visit has been a longtime coming following the flooding events of last spring, and this was one of the reasons for his visit. The other was to talk to housing authorities about some of the changes they are looking at.
    Minister Griffiths explains that currently projects undertaken by housing authorities put pressure on the whole municipality’s borrowing ability.
    “When a housing authority in a municipality wants to build affordable housing or senior housing, whatever their mandate is, they have to go through the municipality which has to borrow it on their behalf from the Capital Finance Authority,” explained Griffiths. “Now we have legislation that will separate that and we are working on the regulation. So now a housing authority will be able to borrow money directly from the Alberta Social Housing Corporation at the same interest rate. That way it won’t limit the borrowing capacity of the municipality.”
    This means that debt from housing projects won’t count against a municipality’s borrowing limits.
    “In lots of municipalities, especially the small ones, they have to ask the question, ‘do we build a seniors complex, or affordable housing, or do we fix the arena or pave the streets?’ It becomes a challenge. So just by peeling the housing out we can still do these projects in communities and still leave the municipalities with their tasks at hand,” said Griffiths.
    The Drumheller Housing Administration manages Sandstone Manor as well as community housing units in the Huntington Hills and Greentree areas.
    Jay Garbutt of the Drumheller Housing Administration says currently there are no plans right now for expansion or renovation, owing to cuts to new housing projects by the province. It  recently completed a number of renovations making many of the units more efficient, thanks to  grants from the federal government.
    The provincial delegation also met with the Drumheller Kinsmen to present a $40,000 grant to build a new playground at Greentree Park. For more details, see Page 19 of this edition of The Drumheller Mail.