Houston Community Services Association got a nice donation this holiday season through a 50/50 raffle draw initiative, run by Macro Spiecapag Joint Venture (MSJV), which is a prime contractor for Coastal GasLink, in charge of building sections five and eight of the pipeline.
Houston Community Services is a non-profit organization that focuses on family support programming.
“MSJV has worked in the community to build strong relationships. We first engaged with Houston Community Services when we arranged a fundraiser for the Beanstalk Childcare centre to build outdoor spaces for children to play and be closer to the environment,” said MSJV Manager Indigenous and Community Relations Joan Goldhawk.
”This had been an initiative that had been hoped for for four years. Through that relationship we began to discuss needs of the lower income and homeless people in the community. Spiecapag felt we could assist in finding some of the key needs.”
According to Goldhawk, MSJV partnered with Houston Community Services in getting a license to sell 50/50 tickets. MSJV staff and subcontractors purchased tickets along with CGL employees and subcontractors. “We sold $20,000 in tickets of which $10,000 went to the winning ticket and $10,000 00 to Houston Community Services,” Goldhawk told Houston Today.
Coastal GasLink’s TC Energy Empower matching program has also agreed to match the funds according to Public Affairs Advisor Jessica Hunting, bringing the total amount to $20,000.
Karen Hutton coordinator for Family Support Services at Houston Community Services, told Houston Today that they’re very grateful for the donation. “It’s so lovely to have a donation like that go to our community. The first thing we’ve done is to give out a little Christmas gift some of our clientele that we serve in our community,” she said.
Beyond the cash donation to community members, nothing is planned firmly yet with the remainder of the funds. “The board needs to meet in the new year and decide how to best use the money to for various programs to serve our community members,” said Hutton
READ MORE: Coastal GasLink pipeline update
READ MORE: Gidimt’en evict Coastal GasLink from Wet’suwet’en territory
Have a story tip? Email:
Eddie Huband
Multimedia Reporter
eddie.huband@ldnews.net
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.