Town of Nipawin to put Humboldt Strong donation toward heliport

Nearly one year after receiving a $100,000 donation from the Humboldt Strong Foundation, the Town of Nipawin decided how it’ll be dispersed.

During a special meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 4, Nipawin council agreed to put 70 per cent of the donation toward a heliport project being split between the town and its eight Twin Lakes District Planning Commission partners (Town of Carrot River, Town of Choiceland, Village of Codette, Village of White Fox, Resort Village of Tobin Lake, R.M. of Torch River, R.M. of Nipawin, R.M. of Moose Range). The other 30 per cent will go toward a rescue truck reserve.

The foundation didn’t put any conditions on how the communities should spend the donations other than to honour the memory of the 2018 Humboldt Broncos players and personnel, as well as to the first responders and communities at large that assisted with the team’s bus crash in April 2018. Mayor Rennie Harper said putting the donation toward a first responding service was on the town’s mind.

“We want this donation to serve the entire community and surrounding area,” Harper told northeastNOW. “The detailed study is in partnership with the Twin Lakes partners we have… we’re doing this together and we will continue to do this together.”