Cheque presentation from left to right: Wendy Johnston, Karen Jenkins, David Moe, Malcolm Jenkins, Kyle Schutte, Judy Harley. (Submitted photo/ Judy Harley)

By Nigel Maxwell

Helping the community

P.A. business owner comes to aid of heritage site

Sep 4, 2019 | 9:36 AM

Business continues to bloom at a popular tourist spot west of Prince Albert thanks to the help of a local business owner.

Malcolm Jenkins has donated the money needed to help repair the basement of the log cabin at Honeywood Heritage Nursery. Judy Harley, vice-president of the nursery’s board of directors, said the basement walls were at risk of caving in.

“They have been cracked and bulging quite badly over the years and we have had water problems in the basement since probably 2011,” she said.

The basement, which houses a gift shop as well as nursery artifacts that date back to the 1930’s, was initially built and poured in 1974 by Bert Porter and his friends when they constructed the new portion of the Porter log home. Construction however was not their line of work, so they built the house and basement as they saw fit.

Discussing the project, left to right: Judy Harley, Wendy Johnston (board member), Kyle Schutte (board member) David Moe (president of the board) Malcolm Jenkins (owner of PA Canadian Tire) Karen Jenkins (Malcolm’s daughter). (Submitted photo/ Judy Harley)

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As a result, over the years, poor reinforcement and shifting has caused every wall to be cracked from one side to the other.The recommendation from the Saskatchewan Heritage Architect was to seek the advice of a structural engineer to determine the best way to address the problem with the basement. Harley said Honeywood Heritage Nursery Inc. is a non-profit organization, and so the nursery is always just operating within its very tight budget.

“When it came to doing a project like this, it had to be done, but we just could not come up with the funds on our own,” she said.

The group then started the process of seeking funds through a grant. If approved, the Saskatchewan Heritage Foundation would pay up to half the cost but only after bills had been paid. Quotes received on plumbing, building a retaining wall and half filling the basement with sand came close to $20,000. According to Harley, the issue was brought up in conversation with Jenkins, during one of his many visits to the nursery.

“Malcolm just smiled and said we are going to do this with or without that grant,” she said.

As it turned out a grant was received for approximately half of the cost, but the bills needed to be paid before grant money could be awarded. Jenkins and his daughter paid the nursery a visit last Sunday and presented Honeywood with a cheque to cover all expenses.

The nursery has one last final public event of the summer, “A Touch of Autumn,” coming up Sept. 15th

nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell