The money comes from the British Columbia Lottery Corporation Community Gaming Grant Local and according to BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC), in fiscal 2006/07, $142.4 million of BCLC net income was distributed to 6,000 organizations around the province.

According to Werner Heine, the 100 Mile House Soccer Association communications person, the good news came their way mid-March and it ensures that ground preparation work for four new fields will be completed by fall of 2008. It will also see one field to completion and ready for use by the fall of 2009. The fields will be located at the north end of town, on land once occupied by municipal sewage lagoons.

The BCLC grant money is the first of three awards the club hopes to capitalize on over the course of the next few years. Heine said they are eligible for a maximum of $100,000 per year with a maximum of three grants.The grant money must also be equally matched, dollar for dollar, with funds generated by the club. Heine said that in order to qualify for a comparative amount next year, it means another $100,000 will have to be raised by the club by the October 2008 application deadline.

“We don’t have much money to start with right now, but we’ll make it somehow,” said Heine. “If for some reason we can’t get there, it will just give us a bit of a break between grant application years.”

The club will be starting construction of the new fields with $350,000 in its bank account. In addition to the $100,000 BCLC grant dollars, there is municipal money from a sports field budget, several sizable donations made by local service groups and money raised by the soccer club. Heine said they are still waiting for approval of the new Cariboo Regional District Budget which includes a $25,000 grant to the soccer club.

The next round of grant money and matched funds will cover costs to complete one more of the proposed fields, along with some expenses related to the entire project. Phase three will see completion of the other two fields and ensure completion of a club house, washrooms and change room facilities.

Total cost of the field complex is estimated at $1 million, said Heine.

“I know that’s a tall order, but we already have a good chunk of it taken care of. I feel very comfortable that we will finish this,” he said.

To get new cash rolling in for the next grant application, the club has planned to repeat a successful raffle they hosted last year which gave away an all-terrain vehicle as first prize.