It wasn't too terribly long ago when there were fears that Creighton Lodge was about to close up shop. However, a short time later, not only is the seniors' facility thriving, it may soon be expanding.
The staff of the lodge and members of its trust committee have taken on the job of raising over $300,000 to expand the building's lounge. Lodge manager Judy Pratt said the expansion - a 36 by 40 foot addition built off the current lounge - would add some much needed space for activities and entertainment.
"Right now we only have 18 feet of lounge and we have 47 residents," Pratt said. "When we have a function, they are sitting up and down the halls and in the dining room. We are going to move the piano and television into that area and we are hoping to add a little gas fireplace with a little sitting area where residents can sit and visit in front of the fireplace. We are going to have a card corner and a puzzle corner. It's just going to be wonderful."
Pratt noted that with 47 residents, the lodge is currently at its capacity. They also have a waiting list of 65 people. That demand led them to debate the merits of adding more rooms or more lounge, but they ultimately decided the lounge made more sense at this time.
"There is no point in adding rooms when we can't even have activities here. This is more important right now, that we look after the people that are in here. We want to have a place for them to dance; they like to dance when there are bands.
"We have an exercise program that is very tough to do out there. We are just starting a new program in April called chair yoga and how we are going to do that in that little area I don't know. It's just very cramped."
Pratt admits the project is not a simple task. As part of the addition, they are hoping to replace the roof from the front of the building to the end of the kitchen and have to decide on how to approach that job. There are also the inevitable surprises that come when undertaking work on an older facility such as the lodge.
The estimated cost of the addition is $300,000 and the group has already gone over the $200,000 mark. Pratt said $100,000 of that total came from an anonymous donor. They have also received money from the five RMs involved in the operation of the lodge as well as the generous business community which has stepped up to support the venture.
Pratt added the design and engineering have already begun and once they get to a cash position they are comfortable with, they will begin work.
"I would like to get to about $280,000 before we start. I would be pretty comfortable with that."
The lodge is also continuing to raise money to renovate rooms and has been selling the naming rights to groups. Pratt said they have 20 rooms left to update and 24 rooms that are unnamed.
