Student donates to Moosomin airport project at Chamber of Commerce meeting
June 29, 2022, 2:16 pm
Sierra D'Souza Butts, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
At the Moosomin Chamber of Commerce meeting on Tuesday, Ricayla Gawryluk of Whitewood donated $3,384 towards the Moosomin Airport Expansion Project.
As part of an assignment for high school, Gawryluk decided to put together a 50/50 draw in support of fundraising for the town’s airport project. Her initial goal was $500.
“I chose to do a fundraiser for the airport because I was rushed to Virden to get on the emergency ambulance, and I was flown to Saskatoon instead of just being able to get taken from Moosomin to Saskatoon right away. From my experience at the hospital made me want to give back,” Gawryluk said.
RM of Moosomin CAO Kendra Lawrence, thanked Gawryluk for her donation. She also updated chamber members on how the airport project is doing so far.
“To date, the total funding received between provincial grants, municipal funding partners, corporate and private donations is $1,785,386.82,” said Lawrence.
“The airport development committee has had a couple exciting meetings over the last couple of weeks. We’ve met with multiple ministers on May 27 to discuss the project, and changes to provincial funding streams, to create a new funding stream or make changes to an existing one.
“Another meeting was held on June 1 with Nutrien. They required a project update and wanted to know what was needed to help move this project forward. The province and Nutrien have been in communication with each other.”
Lawrence said she expects the province will come back with “funding solutions” by the end of this year.
“The RM wants to thank Ricayla for your fundraising efforts and it’s proof why we do need an airport here in town, thank you again,” Lawrence said.
“This also isn’t her first donation, Ricayla contributed $250 towards the project last year from her own money,” Lawrence pointed out.
Hutt’n Doggie Do’s, Work Wear and More
Shauna Cutler of Hutt’n Doggie Do’s Work Wear and More told chamber members that her new business in town opened up last week.
“I’ve been grooming dogs for about 12 years, and a year ago I decided I wanted to get into men’s workwear, we also have women’s, children, and youth too,” Cutler said.
The new business is selling work wear, pet food and accessories on Ellice Street in Moosomin.
Cutler said she is excited to have her business up and running.
“I actually opened the doors on Tuesday, we already have the brand Berne in stock, and we’re just getting into Wrangler, which is pretty exciting.”
Cutler purchased and renovated the former 2.400-square-foot Taylor Trucking building on Ellice Street, where her new store will be located.
She said she will also continue to offer dog grooming out of that location as well.
New clothing store on its way to town: Havens Clothing
Hannah Herman of Moosomin introduced her new business—Haven Clothing– to chamber members on Tuesday.
“I’m originally from Yorkton, Saskatchewan, I moved to Moosomin about a year ago. I always worked in fashion retail, even for some of the stores in town, and I’ve always had a passion for fashion,” she said.
“After talking to family and friends everything kind of came together. It’s currently under construction, but I’m hoping to be open by the second week of August.”
Herman said she plans on selling men, women and children’s clothing, in addition to selling footwear at the store.
As the building is currently under renovations, Herman said she is aiming to have it open by this summer.
The store is located on the 600 block of Main Street.
Update on Ukrainian families in town
Roman Chernykh updated chamber members on how many Ukrainian families are expected to come to the area.
“Valentyn is a new member of our community, his wife came into town just last week, they’re being settled into Moosomin right now,” Chernykh said.
“We have been in contact with a few more families who are planning to come to Moosomin, they’re just dealing with the paperwork and need some more time sorting everything out.”
Chernykh said there will be one family coming to Moosomin within the next two weeks, and Wawota will be welcoming two families within the same time frame.
“Going forward we’ve established a little storage space to accumulate all the donated furniture and essentials for our new arrivals,” Chernykh said.
“The donations are not just for Ukrainians, we’re planning on doing that for any newcomers that arrive into Moosomin, that way they don’t have to worry about essentials.”
Currently, Moosomin has welcomed Valentyn and his wife to town, along with several family members of current Ukrainian residents, and more are on the way.
Town’s Economic Development team looking for input
At Tuesday’s meeting, Councillor Murray Gray introduced the Moosomin economic development committee’s newest economic development officer.
“There’s been a lot of change within the structure of our board, with the town, RM, and CBA all having members on the board, and we’re happy to have Casey on board,” said Gray.
“Economic development basically encompasses everything within our town, considering growth or existing businesses. It’s really exciting, we’re happy to have her on board.”
Casey McCormac, Moosomin Economic Development officer said she finished her business degree in December of last year, and was excited to take on this new role.
“We work on bringing businesses to Moosomin, helping the town and helping the businesses that are currently here,” she said.
“We just started doing business plans for the start up businesses that needed help.”
The business plans are offered as a service from CBA in order to help new or current businesses in town, get started.
“One of the big things we can do is if you have an idea for a new business in town, please let us know,” Gray said.
“Casey has her office there, you can bounce your idea off of her. She can then take it to the parties that can help that idea come to fruition.
“We have an open door policy where we can share and hopefully all work together in order to have our community continue to grow. That’s the big thing about economic development.”