A pair of local communities are finalists for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Wisers Community Support Initiative.
Both Springside and the Peepeekisis Cree Nation were selected to be in the final five, with both communities now relying on votes to win $5,000.
David Sutter, the chief of the Springside Fire Department, said that they are looking to upgrade fire equipment with they are voted to win the money.
"We serve the residents of Springside and the surrounding RM's, and we are responsible for providing safe passage through our area on the highways, and part of that has the proper equipment and tools," he said. "Expanding our capability this year with our RAM, which is a special tool that helps extract a person from a vehicle."
Sutter said that they have already purchased the RAM with money from previous fundraisers, but they need more equipment for the RAM and would like to recoup some of the costs to use it for other equipment.
"Annually, we have been able to hold various fundraising events for the community, but we rely heavily on people to attend events," he said. "One of our major fundraiser events in the year is an annual ball, and we raise about $5,000 to $7,000 in that event; due to COVID, we can't do that. Our deputy chief stumbled across this promotion from the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and the criteria fit pretty well."
The Peepeekisis Cree Nation would put the $5,000 towards building new ball diamonds as for years there have been no baseball teams with the nation.
