It was the right decision.
On April 24, Town of Barrhead councillors turned down a request by the Glass Breakers ice hockey team to waive the $1,600 rental fee for the Agrena for a ball hockey tournament.
The tournament, which was to be held this past weekend, would have been a fundraiser for the Humboldt Broncos GoFundMe campaign to help the victims and their families of the horrific April 6 bus crash in Saskatchewan. A fund, which has raised more than $15 million and was closed to donations on April 24.
It wasn’t because they didn’t feel the cause was a worthy one or that they did not want to help, but they were afraid of the possible ramifications. If they made an exception for this group council was concerned that they could be potentially flooded with requests from other individuals and organizations who organize fundraisers for similar causes.
In the wake of the tragedy, councillors felt the same wave of sadness and grief that the rest of the nation felt. Just as they did for the victims of the tragic van attack in Toronto on April 23, that left 10 people dead and injured at least 14 more.
Unfortunately, the world can be a cruel place and there is no shortage of disastrous, heartbreaking events, that are just as worthy of our attention and efforts.
If councillors had decided to waive the rental costs, they would have set a precedent for every other group who wanted to use any of the town’s facility for other just-as-worthy charitable events.
The question is where do you draw the line? It is a difficult, if not impossible question to answer. It is a line that has to be drawn out of necessity. The Town of Barrhead, like any other municipality, is a business. One that exists to provide residents with the infrastructure and services they expect. And that is something they can’t do if they don’t have the funds. One of the ways the town raises money, in addition to taxes, is by renting out its facilities. For example, to rent the Agrena’s ice surface in the off-season for the day the town charges $800 for non-profit groups.
Now don’t get us wrong. We are not saying that because of all the suffering in the world that we should give up. On the contrary, we encourage people to help out whereever they can, both in terms of money and time. We also realize there are limitations, one that the town and as individual residents have to be aware of.
