Peace River Municipal Library was successful in a grant application that will help expand its programs to add a Community Recreation Equipment Lending Program to its repertoire of services.
The program will commence in the summer 2027. Library director Sarah Lawrence says they are excited to include the service as part of the Library of Things to help residents access indoor and outdoor recreational equipment through the library.
“We’re excited to receive the grant through the Alberta Blue Cross Community Wellbeing Grant Program through Alberta Blue Cross,” says Lawrence.
“By lending equipment, we hope to reduce financial barriers, encourage physical activity, and create more opportunities for community connection year-round.”
Lawrence says Mayor Shelly Shannon let her know about the grant availability and after a successful application the library was granted $1,000 to fund its program.
“This will be a new initiative to the Peace River Library and we’re hoping to provide access to fitness and recreational equipment for community members,” says Lawrence.
“We’re also hoping to point out the low cost and free community facilities in the town of Peace River. By providing this service we are hoping to take away that barrier for equipment.”
Lawrence says among many of Peace River’s recreational opportunities are pickleball courts in lower west Peace River.
“We are going to have pickleball sets so that people can go and try out pickleball and see if it’s a sport for them,” says Lawrence.
“We also have horseshoe by Kinsman Park, so we will have horseshoes so people can go try it out with their families.”
Lawrence says there are a ton of both indoor and outdoor recreational facilities and outlets in the community, and the library is hoping to help highlight all of those opportunities.
“This grant will help provide the seed funding for what we’re hoping to do,” says Lawrence.
“I was inspired by Fairview Public Library and a number of other libraries across Alberta and Canada that have created very similar library programming to this, where they provide fitness recreational equipment.”
Lawrence says the library has restricted space so they don’t have a ton of room for excess donations. However; if people are interested, they can contact the library to see if they have room for offered items.
“We would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Alberta Blue Cross for investing in our community and helping us continue to create meaningful opportunities for learning, wellness, and connection,” says Lawrence.
“We will also accept any financial donations from interested parties in our community to help bring this program to fruition.”
Lawrence says with the $1,000 grant they plan on starting to purchase some materials for their new program and start cataloguing them to make them available for community members in summer 2027.
“We may also choose to expand the program depending on the response we get from the community,” explains Lawrence.
“All people will need is an active library card for any of the Peace Library System libraries and they’ll be able to access these materials when they come to our facility.”
Emily Plihal
Local Journalism
Initiative Reporter