2021-12-08

Residents pour into the Seaside Centre in response to president’s call for help

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It was a desperate cry for help and the community responded in a big way.

Sandy Cross, now the former president of the Seaside Recreation and Community Centre Association, has worked tirelessly as a volunteer at the Seaside Centre in Brooklyn for 27 years.

She made a plea last month to residents of the area for help with the centre. She advertised a community meeting for Nov. 22, advising that she was stepping down as the association president and, if no one was willing to take over the role the centre may be closed and sold.

Cross was the association's only remaining active board member.

"I've tried several times to have meetings and get people out and get them to step up, but no one has shown up," she lamented to LighthouseNOW in an interview leading up to the meeting. "I decided that why should I be the only person. I think the only way to get new blood in there is for me to resign and get a new group of directors."

Approximately 75 people turned up at the Nov. 22 meeting. Fourteen offered to join the board, while others agreed to help in other ways.

In a meeting Dec. 1, a new board was formed with Beach Meadows' resident Kristopher Snarby, a local realtor, taking over the presidency.

"I've only been in the area for about a year and a half, but my kids are quite active over there and my wife has volunteered there as well, so we just want to see it stay alive and thrive," he said in an interview with LighthouseNOW.

Snarby commented that the Seaside Centre, which serves the communities of Beach Meadows, Eagle Head, West Berlin and East Berlin, is a "gorgeous property and a lot of people who live in the area have children that have gone to school there or have gone themselves, and we don't want to lose it. It's a huge asset to the area."

The fully accessible, two-storey building hosts numerous activities from yoga to craft shows, and anniversary parties to cheer leading practices.

Snarby said he and the board will sit down in the new year and get things moving, with one of the main priorities being to build up the volunteer base.

"We're going to move forward and get some committees going and give lots of people in the area who want to help out some jobs to do as well," he said. "We're hoping to build a big support system."

From there, said the association's new president, they will build "a plan and vision to see where we want the centre to be in the future."