EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) – The Chippewa Area Ice Arena is undergoing major refurbishments, with the Chippewa Youth Hockey Association raising money for a new ice chiller.
For over a year, the CYHA has run its “Keeping it Cool” Campaign, raising funds primarily to replace the broken ice chiller system.
“It’s been beyond its useful life for quite some time,” fundraising chairman Jason Darley said. “We’ve been patching it together, and it came to a point that we were really in need of of replacement.”
Though the campaign is just over a year old, Darley says the $1.6 million dollars needed for chiller and arena upgrades is long overdue.
“This has been something that’s been in the works for several years now, but we saw what could have happened way earlier. and what a number of people around the the association were looking to try to prevent,” Darley stated.
With the arena 100% volunteer based, Darley acknowledges the expenses beyond the chiller, where a half million of the funds raised will benefit the arena and youth programs.
“There’s a lot of costs that come, whether it’s maintenance costs or upgrades of locker rooms, for example, in addition to the budget, just to put kids on the ice with jerseys and equipment and all the things that we provide,” Darley stated.
Already halfway to their goal, Darley credits the community’s support of the ongoing upgrades.
“We’ve had great support from our community. We’re continuing to drive for more funds,” Darley said. “We are over the 50% mark now, and we look forward to doing this within a three-year period from that inception, so two years remaining, and we continue driving to get that support from our community.”
As a parent of multiple Chippewa Youth Hockey Association players, Darley emphasizes the project’s importance for Chippewa Youth Hockey, and the area as a whole.
“The hockey program itself is of great importance, both from character development, all the way through the revenue and the impact that it brings to the Chippewa Valley, so it’s it’s a huge deal for us,” Darley said.
For parties interested in supporting the “Keeping it Cool” Campaign, or Chippewa Youth Hockey as a whole, a link to donate can be found here.
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