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| Friends of the Oval Foundation |
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| The Guidant John Rose Oval is Minnesota's nesting ground for future Olympians and we invite you to contribute to the effort to keep this tradition going.
Join the Guidant Foundation by making a donation to the John Rose Oval. For every dollar that we receive, the Guidant Foundation matches it through a $500,000 challenge grant. So far Dow Chemical, the Midway Speedskating Club, the Minnesota Wild and numerous individuals and businesses have made impressive donations nearing $45,000 that Guidant has effectively doubled. > > > On June 20,2005 the Guidant Foundation contributed $500,000 to the Friends of the OVAL Foundation (FOF) for necessary repairs and upgrades to the OVAL refrigeration system. The Guidant Foundation also pledged an additional $500,000 and challenged the FOF and users of the facility to match that donation to create an endowment fund for future operations. In November of 2005, pleased with our plans to generate funds from donors, Guidant advanced the FOF the second installment of $500,000 with the expectation that we would continue to generate matching funds from the public. So suffice it to say that your donation helps us fulfill our commitment to Guidant's original pledge. > > > The OVAL is the world’s largest outdoor sheet of refrigerated ice. Last year the chiller, a component of the refrigeration system, failed and the City relied on natural weather conditions to keep the OVAL open for the season. > > > Weather conditions were difficult to predict which shortened the season and did not serve the needs of the skaters. > > > The OVAL is a popular venue for local, state, national and international ice speedskating, bandy, hockey competitions as well as recreational skating, inline speedskating and inline stunt skating. Countless Olympians, including Maplewood’s 3 time Olympic medalist Amy Peterson, 5 time gold medal winner Bonnie Blair, Roseville’s Annie Driscoll, Jason Hedstrand, and Saint Paul's Amy Sannes have raced at the OVAL. Additionally, through World Cup and World Championship competitions from bandy and speedskating, athletes and teams have represented over 30 countries in world level competition at the Oval. The Friends of the Oval is a 501c3 not for profit organization.====================================================
Lastly, if you really want to make a difference, make a donation and invite your friends to help by starting a fundraising web site of your own. All you do is click "Become a Fundraiser" above, follow a few prompts select the photo that you like best (there are several cool shots of Oval speedskating, hockey,inline,bandy and figureskating. Within minutes your own personal fundraising site will be live; it's quick and easy. |
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