From Wednesday, November 1, the Centre sportif Soulanges will be taking part in a community initiative. Until December 1, the non-profit organization will be collecting donations of field hockey and figure skating equipment. Interview with Vincent Lemieux, director of the non-profit organization mandated to manage the Saint-Polycarpe arena. 

"We regularly receive requests from our members to donate sports equipment they no longer use, and at the same time, we have other members who would like to borrow or rent equipment when they come to figure skate or play free field hockey at the Centre sportif Soulanges. So we decided to set up this collection and act as an intermediary between these two clienteles," he explains. 

Starting next week, baskets will be set out at the entrance to the Centre sportif to collect donations. "Ideally, we hope to receive used field hockey or figure skating equipment. But we're also interested in other items such as helmets. This will be the first time we've organized such an initiative. We thought it would be appreciated in the current economic climate. We don't want children to be deprived of sports for lack of adequate equipment," he adds. 

In concrete terms, at the end of the collection, this initiative will enable the equipment collected to be redistributed to families in the region and to organizations using the Centre Sportif Soulanges. "There will be no charge to borrow or rent the equipment. We don't want to make money with this project, but simply be a facilitator and give back to the next person. I hope people will participate in large numbers," he concludes. 

Interested parties will be able to drop off their items in the baskets provided at the reception desk of the Centre Sportif Soulanges, located at 100, rue des Loisirs in Saint-Polycarpe, starting November 1.