The City of Morden has purchased a much-needed asset to help complete the Emergency Site status of the Access Event Centre. A generator was purchased for $50,000 from the former Tabor Home site, when they moved to their new location. Morden's Director of Community Services, Clare Agnew, said this was the year everything fell together.

"We're very excited to have a generator installed at the Access Event Center. It is something we've been talking about for a number of years, and there's just a few things that aligned for that to be a possibility this year. You know, we've always been the Emergency Evacuation Site for our community, as well as some neighboring communities, but at the same time, if the power was out in Morden, it was likely out at the Access Event Center as well. It was going to be a challenge for us to be an Emergency Site."

The $50,000 generator had very few hours on it, and was the perfect size for the Access Event Centre. The added cost was the installation for $140,000, hooking up the hydro line to everything in the building, so in case of an emergency, everything will still keep running. Agnew said it was funded through government support and community sponsorships.

"We had a sponsorship and support from the community. We applied and received a grant from the provincial government through the Building Sustainable Communities (Grant), The Morden Thrift Store was very generous, Access Credit Union and Enbridge also helped us fund this project. It was pretty big undertaking, but we have it now and, in an odd way, I hope we never have to use it, but it's nice that if it's needed, that our building will be available for people in an emergency."

Agnew stated this is an investment that will come in handy, and will support our local Emergency Services such as Fire and Police who will be instrumental in overseeing any potential emergency. She noted they were very involved in the project.

"It is a $200,000 project that you hope you never need. It's like any fire truck. How do you not have emergency equipment ready when we are the emergency evacuation site? We meet all the other criteria, and there's so few buildings in our area that do, if any. Just the space, and the parking, and we have a kitchen, and we have showers, and we have fridges, and everything, but if we lose our power, we're no good to anybody."