A major pipeline company has pumped a quarter of a million bucks into Morinville’s new leisure centre.
The Town of Morinville announced last May 23 that Pembina Pipeline Corporation had signed a $250,000 sponsorship deal for the Morinville Leisure Centre.
Pembina operates gas pipelines throughout Alberta and has partnered with the Canada Kuwait Petrochemical Corporation to build a $4.5-billion polypropylene complex next to its gas plant south of the Sturgeon Refinery.
The deal buys Pembina the naming rights for the centre’s atrium, now dubbed the Pembina Atrium, for the next five years. The cash will help pay for the centre’s capital and operational costs.
Mayor Barry Turner said this was the first sponsorship deal that the town had signed for the leisure centre. (Sturgeon County chipped in $500,000 last year, but that was a donation rather than a sponsorship.)Turner said he was excited that Pembina wanted to be involved with the leisure centre, noting that Morinville was home to many of the company's employees and one of its pipelines.
“We’re definitely appreciative of them giving back to the community and helping make this project possible and sustainable over the long term.”
Pembina community affairs vice president John Young said in an email that this sponsorship reflected the company’s longstanding values.
“It’s these values that continue to inspire us to be good neighbours in our communities, and why we believe that building an extraordinary community also means having an extraordinary community where we can all thrive.
Town officials hope to collect around $6 million in sponsorships and donations to offset the leisure centre’s $30.5 million cost. So far, they’ve mustered at least $750,000, counting Sturgeon County’s contribution.
Turner said the town’s sponsorship committee was hard at work rallying additional dollars.
“We do have some potential sponsorship announcements to make soon,” he said, and the town would continue to pursue sponsors as the leisure centre developed.
On Monday, town administrators confirmed that Atlas Premium Homes had stepped up to sponsor the children's play area at the leisure centre. The terms of the sponsorship deal were still being finalized when this story went to press.
