DUNROBIN – The Dunrobin Community Association (DCA) had a year unlike any other before, but the executive is looking forward, not backwards, as its community recovers from disaster.

The DCA held its annual general meeting last night (March 27) at the Dunrobin Community Centre, one of the few buildings in the area to survive the Sept. 21 tornado.

While there is a ton of clean-up and repair still needed at the site, DCA President Greg Patacairk is expecting a year of growth.

“I’m betting we’ll see some significant change for the better by this time next year,” he told the executive during the AGM.

While the association was still able to finish the year in the black, the tornado put everything to a halt for pretty much the rest of the year.

But there was lots to celebrate as well.

The meeting kicked off with a donation by the Royal Bank of Canada. Staff from the Kinburn and Kanata branch were on hand to donate brand new cooking accessories for the DCA’s special need Life skills cooking program.

“Tracey (Taffinder – director of special needs) scrapes and scrambles for everything she gets,” DCA secretary Lorraine Madore said. “This is really great.”

The donation is part of the bank’s 150th anniversary celebration and not the end of it either.

“There’s lots of things we want to help out with,” the RBC’s Catherine Metcalfe said. “We’ll come back in the spring and we want to plant 150 trees on the property.”

While the community centre survived the tornado, little else did on the property. Most of the trees are gone, a ball diamond was destroyed and thanks to debris being showered all over, one of the soccer fields is unusable as well.

Following the regular monthly DCA meeting, the executive held their AGM, or as Patacairk called it, “AGM, 2019, lite.”

The DCA is leaving 2018 in the black, with a small $2,671 surplus. It had about $47,606 in expenses in 2018 with lawn care, ice maintenance, special needs programming and Canada Day being the biggest expenses.

The income was about $50,277 with renewable funding being the number one source and programming and rentals providing the rest of the revenue stream.

Seven months removed from the natural disaster, Patacairk, who also chairs West Carleton Disaster Relief, is now looking at the opportunities the tornado has created.

Most of the trees lining the entrance to the centre, were knocked down by the tornado.

“Parking here is a mish-mash,” he said. “With the trees down, we can fix the lot. And I would like to see that work done this spring. I’d like to move that to the top of the priority list.”

On top of the trees the RBC will be planting, the City of Ottawa will also be doing some tree planting on the property.

Patacairk has also been meeting with area Rotary Clubs in Arnprior and in Kanata/Stittsville.

“We lost our shed to the tornado,” he said. “We have no idea where it went. It’s gone. And it took our equipment with it.”

Patacairk thinks the two rotary clubs will help out on that front.

“We have seen a significant drop in attendance in everything we run,” Patacairk said.

That is mostly attributed to the tornado. But the DCA is turning Red Cross funding in to another opportunity for the community.

“The Canadian Red Cross is, basically, covering $25,000 in expenses for us,” Patacairk said. “In turn, we’ve been offering all of our programs for free.”

They are also trying to help their sole tenant who runs the daycare and was in fact using the facility when the tornado struck – her and her wards taking cover in the bathroom.

“We cut her rent in half,” Patacairk said. “She’s been hurting. It’s better to have her as a tenant than not.”

For the first time in years, the DCA won’t be able to host Canada Day on the grounds, but once again, the community has stepped up. Nearby Eagle Creek Golf Club has volunteered to host Canada Day Celebrations at their club.

“So, they’re doing everything,” Taffinder, who is also DCA treasurer, said. “When they hosted the tornado fundraiser and raised $40,000, they had so much fun doing it and they really want to show they are a part of the community.”

The DCA will donate it’s usual $5,000 for fireworks, NorthWind Wireless Fibe is donating $3,000 and Eagle Creek is looking for more sponsors.

“The fireworks will be amazing this year,” Patacairk said. “There will be at least three bands – a large headliner and some big Canadian bands. I can’t reveal yet, but it’s going to be a big do.”

While attendance was down across the board, it was a great year on the DCA rink. The DCA hosted a special winter carnival and had a good long season of skating.

“We had a beautiful season for ice,” Patacairk said. “We went well in to March.”

Patacairk wrapped up the meeting with a focus on 2019.

“This is our spiel for the city,” he said. “In 2019 we ae going to focus on infrastructure. We will maintain our programs. We aren’t doing Canada Day, we’re busy enough.”