Welcome to the Chester Yacht Club

CYC Members,

The note you’ve all been waiting for…The Capital Call

I am pleased to provide a progress update on our collective efforts around the Wharf and the Building restoration work.

Quite simply, much has been accomplished and our team has been extremely focused.

• We’ve confirmed that the service provider for the Wharf project will be Eagle Beach.  This comes following significant due diligence and a constructive debate with respect to the path forward.
• The fundraising team has reached a considerable fundraising level of ~$ 350,000. Tax receipt support through the Municipality has certainly helped with this outreach to members.
• Several targeted donations have now positioned us to reduce the capital call amount for our single members so that the charge per member is now equal at $ 800.

Now a  look at the numbers so that everyone has an appreciation of the challenges we’ve been working through over the past couple of months.

First, the Wharf and associated components:

• Costs are in the range of ~$ 600K, with an $ 80K contingency established in the event of issues or adjustments.

This is without question a significant project with a considerable price tag but necessary to maintain our wharf and the large role it plays for the club.  As you all know, nothing these days comes cheap.  The alternative of building a new wharf from the ground up is considerably more expensive, as we have shared previously.

Second, the Building:

• Work will not begin until the fall for two key reasons, the first being access to available contractors and second , in order to  qualify for government grants no work can start until applications are submitted.  We will be submitting formal grant requests in early 2025.
• We are earmarking $ 120K of the fundraising proceeds for the building repairs, and as has been stated in the past, this is the best estimate given that contractors are reluctant to commit until we are in a position to take shingles off and determine the state of the building condition.

As you can see the tremendous fundraising to date gets us a long way towards the overall cost however, it now comes down to you, our membership.  We all need to do our collective part in this overall fundraising process.

The expected funds from the capital call should raise between $ 350-400K. We know this capital call is not popular but it is necessary. Through the success to date of the capital campaign, as stated above we are adjusting the Capital Call to a much fairer per / person charge.  Hopefully this addresses concerns raised by many members over the past couple of months.

The Capital Call funds will first be prioritized towards the building repair costs as I know for many this is where your primary interest is.  We are listening and we are trying to be responsive to your concerns.

The Capital Call is currently set at $1600 for couples/families and $800 for singles over 30.  We will initiate the capital call in 2 parts; 50% now and the remainder in the new year depending on our fundraising levels to address the overall costs. Should continuing fundraising and grant application results position us to reduce the second half of the capital call we will do so.

You will receive an invoice from Kim for the Capital Call shortly and we encourage you to make payment through a cheque or e-transfers so that we can avoid the 3+% credit card bank charges. I know a few have already paid their capital call in full and we certainly appreciate this.  It is important that we have the funds on hand to support payments to Eagle Beach.

Our broader fundraising efforts continue as they are critical to our overall success. If you have not been approached individually it is because a small group is working to connect across a broad membership.  Please do not wait to be asked.  I am available to discuss your donation and answer any questions. We would appreciate any additional help that can be offered at this time in support of this effort, paid as follows:

• Cheques can be made out to the Municipality of Chester.  It is very important to memo Chester Yacht Club, and include your name and address for tax receipt information and sent to:

Municipality of Chester, 151 King Street, PO Box 369, Chester, Nova Scotia, B0J 1J0

• E-Transfers can be sent to [email protected] with a note stating this for Chester Yacht Club, plus your name and mailing address for the Tax Receipt.

Thank you for your patience and support.

Jennifer Chandler, CYC Commodore