Wellington CAP site returning to Old Mills Park for the summer

WELLINGTON, PEI – July 5, 2012 – The Wellington CAP site (Community Access Program) is returning to the Interpretive Centre of the Old Mills Park, which also houses a tourist information centre, in the heart of the Village of Wellington.

“Each weekday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and weekends from noon to 4 p.m., people from the area as well as tourists and visitors can come to the site to use one of the site’s two computer systems to check their emails, to do Internet searches or to do a bit of work, all free of charge,” says Gilles Painchaud, chairman of the Wellington Municipal Council.

Those requiring a bit of assistance to use the equipment just have to ask centre workers Taylor Arsenault, an employee of the Evangeline Tourism Association, and Marc Arsenault, a Village employee, who’ll be more than happy to answer their technical questions.

For a number of years now, RDÉE Prince Edward Island Inc. has been receiving an annual grant to renew the equipment and to deliver the service. A few years ago, the RDÉE had negotiated an agreement with the Municipality of Wellington to provide a location for the site in the Interpretive Centre for the summer months. In exchange, the village would receive a portion of the annual grant to pay rent and the delivery of services.

“This past spring, we found out the government was immediately eliminating its financial support to CAP sites,” explains Bonnie Gallant, the RDÉE’s interim executive director. “Government gave us the option of continuing to operate our site at our own expense or to sell the equipment and turn the profit over to a non-profit organization. In consultation with the municipality, we went for the first option.”

So, for as long as the equipment is still functional and usable, the RDÉE will set it up each summer at the Interpretive Centre and the municipality will take the responsibility of delivering the service at its own cost.

The two partners, in collaboration with Evangeline Tourism Association, are glad to be able to keep delivering this service since even in these modern times, when a majority of people have cell phones or other small electronic gadgets that can instantaneously access the Internet, some travellers and local residents don’t have such an immediate access, neither from their phones nor from their homes.

Wellington was the first Canadian community to host a CAP site back some 20 years ago or so.

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CUTLINE: Summer employees Marc Arsenault, seated front, and Taylor Arsenault explains how they help visitors to the CAP site located in the Interpretive Centre at Old Mills Park in Wellington. Looking on are CAP site partners Bonnie Gallant, interim executive director of RDÉE PEI Inc., and Gilles Painchaud, chairman of the Wellington Municipal Council.

For more information:

Bonnie Gallant
Interim Executive Director
RDÉE Prince Edward Island Inc.
(902) 854-3663
bonnie@rdeeipe.org

Gilles Painchaud
Chairman
Wellington Municipal Council
(902) 854-2289
gillpa@pei.sympatico.ca