Bruce Power donates $500,000 to Just Add Water fundraising campaign 

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Bruce Power made a $500,000 donation to the Town’s  “Just Add Water” fundraising campaign for the Aquatics & Wellness Centre (AWC) now under construction at The Plex in Port Elgin. 

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Bruce Power donates $500,000 to Just Add Water fundraising campaign  Back to video

John Peevers, Bruce Power’s Director of Community, Media Relations & Economic Development presented the cheque to Saugeen Shores Mayor Luke Charbonneau March 5 at an invite-only gathering of community members, supporters and potential donors at Westlake Golf Club in Port Elgin. 

Mayor Charbonneau said the donation was another example of how Bruce Power “dived right in” to support one of its host communities.
“The Aquatic & Wellness Centre will be an accessible fitness facility for the entire community and its visitors for generations. I want to thank Bruce Power for their generous support as we grow together,” Charbonneau said in a March 6 news release issued by the Town. 

John Peevers said Bruce Power was extremely proud to make the donation to the AWC, which is rooted in a strong understanding of Bruce Power’s role as the largest employer in the region.
“While we may be known for producing clean, reliable electricity for Ontario and producing cancer-fighting medical isotopes used worldwide, we are also deeply committed to sponsoring important local initiatives that improve the health, wellness and vibrancy of the community in which we operate,” Peevers said in the release. 

The $50 million AWC is billed by the Town as a regional recreation hub – a state-of-the-art accessible aquatic facility, with an eight-lane, 25-metre pool, a leisure/therapy pool and a designated viewing area.
Plans include a gymnasium, fitness studio, conditioning centre with fitness equipment, three-lane, 125-metre walking/running track and multi-purpose rooms, along with common spaces, including accessible washrooms and changerooms, meeting spaces, and customer service areas. The municipal offices will also be upgraded as part of the project. 

The Just Add Water campaign has a $3 million goal with $1.5 million donated to date, primed by a $1 million donation from the Pryde family of Port Elgin last October.

Rob Stanley, Just Add Water coordinator, said the guest list included current Centennial Pool users and those with “emotional ties” to the pool or the early days of life guarding in Lake Huron. 

“At one time they were teaching swimming off Long Dock in Southampton and (off) the break wall in Port Elgin, so folks with those kinds of memories would probably be supporters of where we’ve transitioned from lifeguarding in the lake, to Centennial Pool to the Aquatics & Wellness Centre…” Stanley said in a March 6 telephone interview. 

He said their Just Add Water presentation was “well received” with a lot of excitement with a “flythrough” video designed by the architect, Salter Pilon Architecture. 

“It was showing a mockup concept of what it would look like inside,” Stanley said. “It flowed from going in the front door around to the leisure pool, track and conditioning centre, and then came back around the outside of the building and showed where the courtyard would look like,” Stanley said, adding the video will be part of the fundraising campaign. It should be made public within days. 

Ryan Stitt, a Salter Pilon partner, said the flythrough makes it very real. “It gives a sense of what the building is going to look like, what the materiality of the building is, and (provides) an understanding of all the spaces to communicate the overall design of the project,” Stitt said in a March 6 telephone interview. 

Stitt was stumped when asked to describe the AWC – the biggest capital project the Town has ever undertaken – in one or two words.
“It’s modern facility that still considers the historical aspects of the Town and the connection to the natural area by bringing the outside of the building in,” Stitt said, adding that’s done with lots of glazing, big open spaces with clean sweeping lines influenced by the shoreline and natural aspects that mimic the look of rocks and the shoreline. 

The target opening for the AWC is mid-2025.