Amherstburg seeks donors for new complex

The Town of Amherstburg has launched a multi-faceted direct mail campaign to help pay for a $24-million sports complex it plans to open in 2010.

The town has already received $15.7 million in federal and provincial funding for the Amherstburg Recreation Complex and has pledged close to $6 million itself. It hopes to raise the remaining $2 million or so from the community.

The campaign asks the public to spend between $200 and $1,000 on a variety of items "to honour family, friends and colleagues," according to a news release, including "a legacy pathway brick, an arena seat, a dedicated tree or bench, or a lamp standard." Donors will be given a five-year interest-free payment plan, if necessary.

"It has something for everybody," Mayor Wayne Hurst said of the campaign. "It shows that everyone is buying into this particular facility, unlike what most arenas have been in the past.

The 133,595-square-foot recreation complex will include two hockey rinks, a practice mini-rink, an indoor walking track for seniors and a regulation-sized soccer and football field with artificial grass.

It will also house Canada's first Miracle League baseball diamond, a rubber field designed especially for people in wheelchairs or who use walkers.