By Patrick Newhook/December 30, 2021
Even though it was another Covid year, 2021 was kinder to the Bay Bulls-Bauline Athletic Association (BBBAA) than 2020 was, says its chairman, Scott Penney.
But Penney admitted the BBBAA is still not back to doing things exactly as it did in the past.
Among the challenges the group faced this past year was a financial one. The BBBAA usually hosts an annual auction and gala dinner. In the past, the event has generated between $75,000 and $100,000 annually. The money is often piggybacked on to funds from local councils and together leveraged to obtain provincial government money for community infrastructure such as softball field upgrades.
“Our infrastructure needs investment,” Penney said. “When you sit around a council and try to find funding for recreation and there’s a question between recreation versus roads, recreation would lose that argument one hundred percent of the time. Which is part of it, we get that. Our ability to go and fundraise through our auction every year and raise somewhere between $75,000 to $100,000, and then reinvest that and leverage the money, that’s a big, big impact for us. For us, that’s a critical challenge.”
Penney hopes the auction will make a comeback.
Financial challenges aside, Penney still saw plenty of positives in 2021.
“The positives are that we got people back doing things with the services that we provide,” said Penney. “The soccer facility was full to capacity, our summer program, even though we had them split to keep the numbers down, we were able to maximize our occupancy on those which is positive.”
Penney is looking forward to 2022 and 2023, and believes that while the future is unknown, it seems bright for the BBBAA.
“We’ll continue to do what we do to make sure our communities continue to be great places to live and raise a family,” said Penney. “I’m very hopeful and positive for 2022.”
