Yankton Medical Clinic Donates $100,000 To Yankton Area Ice Association For Equipment
By Rob Nielsen Jun 8, 2022 Updated Jun 9, 2022
Thanks to a major donation, the Yankton Area Ice Association (YAIA) is well on its way to solving a pair of critical equipment issues.
On Tuesday, the Yankton Medical Clinic (YMC) presented the YAIA with a $100,000 donation at a brief ceremony held at YMC.
YAIA Secretary and former president Sarah Thoms told the Press & Dakotan that Tuesday’s donation will be a huge help.
“We are so grateful to YMC for this significant donation towards our current fundraising goal of $350,000,” she said.
She said $200,000 is meant for the replacement of the facility’s compressor system due to it becoming increasingly unreliable and costly to maintain.
“Without it, we don’t have ice,” she said. “Having a reliable compressor not only ensures practice, performances and competition times for our hockey and figure skating athletes, but also all those in the community that enjoy our open skate opportunities.”
The other $150,000 will be used to replace the ice arena’s current Zamboni.
“We will continue to fundraise to cover expenses so YAIA can continue to provide affordable ice-skating opportunities for many years to come,” Thoms said.
Dr. Byron Nielsen, president of the YMC board of directors, told the Press & Dakotan that the donation was an opportunity to contribute to one of the area’s biggest sports entities in a time of need.
“We found that they were having some struggles with their equipment and other things,” he said. “We felt that we really wanted to give back to their institution and what they do for the community. We felt it was a great need in the community that brings lots of people here and we wanted to help support them.”
He said it was an honor to be able to help out YAIA’s cause.
“The community gives so much to the Yankton Medical Clinic,” he said. “Just to provide this little bit back to the community is outstanding for us.”
Thoms said that YAIA will continue fundraising throughout the summer and is looking to work with different entities in the community.
Nielsen said that entities like the YAIA are important to Yankton.
“Obviously, it gets kids out there promoting health, comradery, sportsmanship,” he said. “Not only does it do that, it’s a big enhancement for the community in general for all of the folks who come in to play hockey here in town or with the different shows they put on with figure skating. It brings a lot of folks into the community and really helps generate the economy of the community, and we felt it’s a need we definitely didn’t want to see go away in this town.”
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For more information, visit https://www.yanktonice.org.
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