There were almost 10 golfers for every hole at the Goose Hummock Golf Course on June 11 but no one was complaining, certainly not the seniors of Sturgeon County.
That was the date for this year’s Mayor’s Golf Tournament, an annual event that draws professional and amateur sports enthusiasts alike to play a round and help out two local seniors’ housing organizations. This time around there were 172 golfers who raised nearly $20,000, a welcome surprise for the recipients.
“We are completely stunned by the amount of money raised,” stated Marguerite Bosvik, the executive director of the Sturgeon Foundation. “[We are] very grateful for this generosity and will ensure the donated funds will be put to good use, improving the lives of our residents.”
The Sturgeon Foundation is a local non-for-profit group that provides subsidized housing for seniors in St. Albert, Sturgeon County, Bon Accord, Gibbons, Legal, Morinville and Redwater. It received $16,807 while the West Sturgeon Aging In Place Foundation took home $2,801. This foundation provides affordable housing with a not-for-profit objective such as the West Country Hearth seniors’ residence in Villeneuve.
Like so many other geographic areas, Sturgeon’s population is aging and that means more seniors need the assistance of groups like these two, Mayor Donald Rigney said. He was extremely pleased with the turnout and the donations.
“We were oversubscribed. I was pretty excited about that. I think everybody was pleased,” he said. “We’re trying to make sure that the people who build the community can retire in the community.”
Rigney himself is a fourth-generation landowner in the county and sees how many people leave their farms for urban living.
“We’re trying to take some steps to change that but the traditional rural community is much older. The average age of the landowners, the farmers in Alberta, must be close to 60 years of age now.
“I’ve said all along that my goal is to make sure that our kids and grandkids can live, work and play in Sturgeon.”
