TWIN ELM FIRE UPDATE
As most of you know by now, our home, Twin Elm was badly damaged by a fire in late August. As one of the four owner clubs of Twin Elm this fire impacts us greatly. This upcoming summer will mark the parks 50th anniversary, and right now Twin Elm needs our help more than ever.
This updates covers what we know so far, a fundraiser night coming up on October 21, and a way to offer your skills for the rebuild.
Every bit of support counts, so please give it a read and pass it along.
What happened at Twin Elm
On August 28, a fire broke out at Twin Elm Rugby Park, our home field. Ottawa Fire Services attended, and you can see their update here: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/twin-elm-rugby-park-fire
The fire started in a maintenance workshop at the back of the main floor, where the garden tractor and equipment for the park’s solar installation were stored.
The cause is still unknown.
The Twin Elm Board and the member clubs, including the Irish, are working with the authorities and insurers to figure out what happened, secure the building, start cleanup and plan the longer-term recovery.
This is new territory for everyone involved, so thanks for your patience while we work through it.
Fundraiser - October 21st
While the park is closed, Twin Elm has no rentals, no events and no field fees coming in, but the bills don’t stop. This fundraiser is about keeping the park running through the winter by covering day-to-day operating costs until it can earn its own way again.
To be clear, this isn’t money for fixing the building. Repair costs are being handled separately through the insurance process and the Twin Elm Board. Every dollar from this night goes to operations.
When: Wednesday, October 21, 7 PM
Where: 131 Catherine Street, Suite 200, Ottawa
What: A night out with the rugby community, with finger foods and a cash bar, silent auction, and more
Cost: $25 per ticket
We’re asking every Irish player, parent, alum and friend of the club to grab a ticket and come out if you can. If you can’t make it, buying a ticket or two still helps. Each club has been asked to sell 100 tickets using their specific link.
Twin Elm has been home for a long time, and this is a good chance to show up for it.
Silent auction
There’ll be a silent auction on the night to bring in a bit more money. If you or someone you know has something to donate, we’d love to hear from you. Some ideas:
Services (trades, professional, personal)
Golf rounds
Gift certificates
Sports memorabilia such as Jerseys, balls or pucks, signed or not
Gift baskets
Anything else you think people would bid on
If you’ve got something, fire it my way at president@ottawairishrugby.com.
Twin Elm Community Skills and Volunteer Registry
There’s another way to help. The Twin Elm Fire Recovery subcommittee is putting together a list of people across the clubs who have skills, trades, equipment or other resources they’d be willing to put toward the recovery and rebuild.
If that’s you, it only takes a couple of minutes to add your name. Please share it with anyone you think could help too. It’s going to take all of us to get through this, and we want the park to come back better than it was.
Twin Elm Repair oversight subcommittee
Repairing and or Rebuilding Twin Elm will involve decisions bigger than any one person on the TERP board was appointed to make. To make sure those decisions are made fairly and with input from every owner club, a subcommittee is being formed. It will include members from each club and some members of the Twin Elm Board, and it will oversee the process and keep things accountable through the repairs and rebuild.
The fire has been devastating, but the clubs have done a great job of working together and getting on the same page so far. This subcommittee is how we keep that going.
The Irish will appoint a few members to the subcommittee, with a term that runs for the length of the repairs and rebuild. If you’re interested, please reach out to Jamie Lafrance at president@ottawairishrugby.com.In the interim while decisions are being made Jamie Lafrance (President) and James Moran (VP Admin) will sit on this comittee. We’ll talk about this more at our AGM later this fall when the structure and scope is more well defined.
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