By Zak Lewis and Sandra Milton
This year, the Ottawa Rowing Club introduced an innovative new program to bring rowing to underserved communities in the National Capital Region. The project called “Everyone Can Row” aimed to encourage people of all ages and abilities to try the sport of rowing. The hope was to increase the number of people using the club’s services including widening the number of Lowertown youth rowing while extending the club’s capacity to serve the entire local community.
With the support of local Ottawa MP Mona Fortier, the club received funding to run a rowing program specifically designed for the underprivileged and underserved communities in the Ottawa area. The inaugural event took place at the Carlington Community Health Centre in the west end of Ottawa and included 35 youth participants. The club partnered with Athletes Combatting Racism, a group founded by Dave Smart, a legendary former head coach of the Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team. Several of his former players who become police officers in the Ottawa area helped run the event.
In August, the club organized events for different community groups including those from the Lowertown Community Resource Centre, the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa and Athletes Combating Racism. These community partners provided transportation to and from the ORC. The target for the Everyone Can Row project was to introduce the sport to 60 youth this summer, but we surpassed this and engaged 85 kids. In addition to introducing the sport, one of the end goals of the project is to start a scholarship fund for some of the youths to become members of the ORC and to double the program capacity for the 2022 season.
To find out more about the Everyone Can Row project and to donate, please visit Everyone Can Row (https://www.sport4ontario.ca/project-232—ottawa-rowing-club.HTML)