One of Regina’s most crucial venues could use your help right now.
On May 6, the Cultural Exchange, housing the Exchange and the Club venues along with the offices of the Saskatchewan Cultural Exchange Society (SCES), experienced massive flooding in its basement. Along with the gear of local act Library Voices which was housed in their rehearsal space down there, a lot of equipment stored by the SCES was destroyed. Power in the building also suffered.
They’ve been forced to relocate or cancel shows, causing lost revenue. Add that to the cost of repairs, and the SCES has a big financial burden right now. As they mention on their website, “[The] loss of business due to last weekend’s closures and the costs incurred with the flooding have presented a long term impact on the financial status of the organization.”
Word is they will be planning fundraisers in the future. Right now, they are accepting any and all cash donations people can offer. But, if you have any time right now – as in, today, at this very moment – you can go down to the Cultural Exchange and help clean out the basement. Yesterday, I saw a group of about 10 people working really hard to help out the SCES, and it would be great to see even more out today.
I would strongly urge everyone to volunteer, donate, or both. The SCES is a vital organization to the cultural landscape of Regina, and it’s hard to imagine what this city would look like without it. It’s time for everyone to help out in its time of need.
They need volunteers all day today and will no doubt need them tomorrow as well. If you have any questions, I’m sure someone at the SCES would be more than happy to answer them, but if you want to help, you can just show up and start hauling stuff out.