Municipal subsidy helps YMCA
Trent Hills paid $394,000 last year and will pay $331,000 in 2026
Trent Hills paid the Northumberland YMCA $394,000 in 2025 to provide classes and manage the pool at the Sunny Life Recreation and Wellness Centre.
It expects to pay $331,000 this year, as part of a five-year plan agreement to meet the YMCA’s costs while it gets established and adds more members.
The YMCA said it had about 2,400 members at Sunny Life at the end of 2025. It would need about 3,500 in order for memberships to cover all its costs.
Memberships for a family or group of five costs $1,699, or $340 per person; the rate for adults is $889; and for seniors, anyone over 55, it’s $761.
Trent Hills paid the YMCA $176,000 in 2024 when it was just providing services at the outdoor swimming pool on Ranney Street.
Other municipalities with YMCA facilities also contribute payments annually. In 2025 Cobourg paid $112,000 and Brighton paid $40,000.
Tracking memberships is complex because people can pause or cancel monthly, or switch from one group to another, says Kathryn Harrison, Director of Marketing and Philanthropy. The organization calculates what it calls its member survival rate and in Campbellford last year it was approximately 87 per cent, “which is which is on par with our other locations.”
Last summer its camps served 130 youngsters and it has more programs on tap this year. Details on the summer camps are available in this brochure.
“During the summer on the arena floor, we will be offering a new youth floor hockey program as well as indoor pickleball.” Harrison said.
“We will be launching the Campbellford Y Art Project soon, working with the Apple Route Studio Tour to turn part of the facility into a gallery where we display local artist’s work on our walls,” she said.
The 2026 municipal budget also shows increased fees and ice rental fees at the Sunny Life Centre that will generate $1.1 million in revenue, up from $820,000 in 2025.
Donating bread bucks to food bank
About 10 days ago I got a present from Galen Weston Jr. Well, not exactly a present since it wasn’t voluntary.
Like thousands of other Canadians, including several in Trent Hills, Weston sent me $49.11 to settle a class action lawsuit over the way Loblaw Companies Ltd. and George Weston colluded to keep break prices high from 2001 until 2021.
As a bread lover and general opponent of monopolies and big business, I was quick to sign up to get a share of the money they agreed to pay back.
I donated my small hunk to the Campbellford Fare Share Food Bank and I’ve heard from other readers who did likewise. A few years back I did the same with my $25 gift card that was phase one of the settlement.
“We are sending your payment in the Canadian Packaged Bread Class Actions Settlement,” the email said. “This payment represents your share of the Loblaw/Weston Packaged Bread Settlement, calculated in accordance with the applicable orders of the supervising court.”
You may also have seen social media items about an interview between Weston and CBC anchor Adrienne Arsenault. It purports to show Weston storming out of an interview after she asks him some tough questions about how he is making money.
Be forewarned, that video and related items are a scam designed to get people to provide their personal information in hopes of joining the fake investment scheme Weston supposedly used. The CBC has prepared a video explaining the way it was faked using AI, what else.
