Fundraising efforts are underway for the Quinterra Legacy Garden in Calgary. It’s intended to provide a peaceful, contemplative and vibrant outdoor space where visitors can reflect, heal and remember a tragedy that gripped the city close to five year ago.
The five families, who lost their children on April 15, 2014, in a mass murder in the northwest community of Brentwood, have “come together to find a way to do something special to honour our children and create a legacy for the five young lives lost.”
The young people killed were Zackariah Rathwell, Lawrence Hong, Kaiti Perras, Jordan Segura and Joshua Hunter.
The Quinterra Legacy Garden will be located at South Glenmore Park, 90th Avenue S.W. and 24th Street S.W., just northwest of the Variety Children’s Park.
In a presentation, the families say they want to:
- “Give back to Calgarians – recognize the support provided and great generosity during our darkest hours;”
- “Create a space that embodies the very special place that Calgary is to us;”
- “Establish and sustain a dynamic public space, and ongoing programming, that reflects a youthful, artistic and energetic spirit;”
- “Build an amenity that will inspire – establish a creative, inclusive and welcoming place for families to gather and enjoy time together;”
- “Motivate the community to be compassionate towards others, and;”
- “Emphasize community spirit through healing and remembrance.”
“Most importantly, we want this to be a happy place; not a memorial or place of sadness or commemoration,” said the families.
Quinterra Legacy Garden partners include Calgary’s Parks Foundation, Variety Alberta and the Calgary Foundation.
The total estimated cost for the project is $783,000.
Plans are to break ground this coming spring, which would be the five-year anniversary of the tragedy with the Quinterra Legacy Garden opening Summer 2019.
Sponsorship opportunities are ongoing throughout fundraising campaign. All donations can be made through the Parks Foundation, Calgary. Online at https://www.parksfdn.com/community-projects (select ‘Quinterra Legacy Garden’ under the ‘Fund’ drop down menu. All online donations will receive a tax receipt via email instantly.
Or make cheques payable to: Parks Foundation Calgary. Project Name: Quinterra Legacy Garden, 225 – 13 Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta, T2R 1N8.
Cheques that come with email information will receive a tax receipt from Parks Foundation, Calgary as an agent of the City of Calgary for any amount. Only cheques of $100.00 or more with no email information will be mailed a tax receipt. Mail in donation forms can be located at https://www.parksfdn.com/community-led-projects/ under DONATE.
Mario Toneguzzi is a veteran Calgary-based journalist who worked for 35 years for the Calgary Herald, including 12 years as a senior business writer.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
