Tom Henihan, Express Staff
Donnelly Parish Council held a Night of Music fundraiser at Club Des Pionniers in Donnelly on October 24.
The event was to raise funds for the restoration work on the Donnelly Cemetery wall, completed in mid-September.
“We had to restore the wall and we added new capping because the water was going between the cement and the wall and peeling off the cement,” says Monica Cote, a member of the Donnelly Parish Council. “We hired a contractor to do the major work and people volunteered to do the finishing touches like painting.”
Apart from the October 24 fundraiser, the Parish Council has had a number of initiatives to raise funds for the project, which cost approximately $18,000.
“We put up an ad in the post office, members of the council went door-to-door and we also advertised in the local paper,” says Cote. “People from the area who have family buried in the cemetery donated money and people from back east who now live here but have no connection to the cemetery also helped.
“One man who is from here but now lives in Grande Cache, sent us a cheque wrapped in the ad he cut from the paper.”
Of course, fundraising to pay off the project is still underway which is why the Night of Music at Club Des Pionniers in Donnelly was organized.
Approximately 60 people attended the event with local musical duo, Ariane Cote and Trin Potratz providing the entertainment. Cote and Potratz, with their extensive musical repertoire and easy rapport with the audience provided an excellent night of entertainment and kept things moving from beginning to end.
The by-donation event at which snacks and beverages were served raised $1,318 towards the Donnelly Cemetery project.
