On November 18th, Burns & McDonnell provided a gracious donation of $17,000 to Joe’s Place, Moose Jaw’s local youth centre.
“This is just amazing; it’s awesome and we are very excited. I had no idea the tournament was going to raise that much money. They must have done a lot of work to get those great golf players out there,” said Joe Dueck, director of Joe’s Place. “We are going to make good use of it and probably invest in a few more fun events for the kids on weekend nights, as this pandemic drags on.”
Brad Butcher, Project Manager at Burns & McDonnell, presented the cheque.
“With any project that we do in a community, we like to support it by supporting amazing places like Joe’s Place that make a positive impact on the youth in the community, so we are excited to present this cheque,” said Butcher. “We picked Joe’s Place because of his involvement with the youth and the impact that he is making with the youths’ lives; we can see how much he is doing by giving the youth a place to hang out that doesn’t involve drugs or alcohol, making a positive impact on their future.”
Our expectation is for Joe to put it to the best use possible to support and enrich the lives of Moose Jaw and surrounding area youths. His place is amazing here; we can see that he is impacting lives on a daily basis.”
Burns & McDonnell was selected to be the main contractor by SaskPower to build the Great Plains Power Station in Moose Jaw.
The project site, located on the south east corner of town is within city limits. The project started in March of 2021 and the project is expected to begin start up and commissioning by the end of 2023.
“We are just getting into the winter work but the focus since starting back in March has been piling, followed by all the underground electrical, piping and now foundations,” said Jami Cuthbert, Administration and Community Liaison.
The global company draws on the talent of over 7,600 professionals worldwide and offers full construction services such as project planning, development and design to environmental permitting.
Funds for the donation were raised through a golf tournament held in September.
Cuthbert lead the efforts to raise the money, with the help of Erin Farnel, Safety Administrator of Burns & McDonnell and John Gagnon, Project Control Manager.
“There was a lot of work behind the scenes; with the help of my co-workers and with all the sponsors and locals in Moose Jaw that did what they could to give us different raffle prizes or prizes for the tournament; it made it worthwhile for everyone.
“To see the look on Joe’s face [as we gave] that cheque, knowing that all the kids who get to see that too get to benefit from it, that’s what we want to do and want to see. We [expect] to have two more tournaments while we are here,” said Cuthbert.
“I have worked for Burns & McDonnell on a project before and I know the importance of them making a difference in the community that they are working in, so basically I started out here in March and knew right away that we would be doing a golf tournament this summer. It was just about picking the right people to put that effort towards and we voted on it and Joe’s Place is who we chose.”
“It’s very impressive what Joe’s Place has going on here. There are a million reasons for a kid or teen to come back and have a safe place where there is something different to do all the time,” Cuthbert concluded.
