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| Volume 11, Number 5 | October 17, 2003 |
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Faculty Club wants to give members a lift
The Faculty Club is asking people for a boost so it can return the favor in the future for people who have trouble getting up and down stairs in the historic 91-year-old building that houses the campus social centre. The Club launched a fundraising drive more than two years ago to raise $60,000 for a "lift" - a light-duty version of an elevator. The drive's leaders say they're nearly one-third of the way to their goal, but they want to get word of their worthy cause out to more people in the hopes they might be able to install the lift sometime in 2004. Faculty Club Director Donna Cram and former Club board member Terry Summers, Director of Financial Reporting for the University's Financial Services Division, say they've passed the $18,000 mark in their drive. Summers says the Club's board set the lift as one of its top building priorities. "We wanted to make it a priority to make the Club accessible to all our members - and it's not just an issue for people in wheelchairs, but also for people who have difficulty with stairs," Summers says. Cram notes that partly to meet the growing demand by campus for meeting space, the Faculty Club recently renovated and upgraded its downstairs meeting rooms, adding things like whiteboards and computer lines. And the upstairs lounge is increasingly in demand for social events, receptions and meetings. With a number of its 1,019 members being older or retired U of S staff, Cram says there are some members and guests who may have trouble with the stairs up to the lounge or down to the meeting rooms. The lift would run right from the lower level to the top. Cram says it will be key-operated, with the key kept in the Club's office, and it will hold just two people. The idea is for special accessibility use only, with one person able to accompany the rider in the lift. Summers and Cram say with Club membership open to any employees of the U of S, Royal University Hospital, Innovation Place companies, and the nearby federal research agencies, the Faculty Club serves as "the living room of campus". As such, they hope people recognize the Club as an integral part of campus, and see this accessibility upgrade as part of the University's overall upgrading. Cram notes that all donations to the Faculty Club Lift Fund will be recognized with a receipt for income tax deduction purposes. And Summers reminds those giving to the current U of S campus fundraising campaign that the Lift Fund is eligible as a target project they can designate with their donation. Cram says Saskatchewan Home Renovations magazine, with an interest in heritage buildings, has donated $1,200. "We've received donations from across Canada - it's wonderful," Summers says. "We're getting there!"
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