{"id":5078,"date":"2022-11-23T11:33:25","date_gmt":"2022-11-23T19:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/?page_id=5078"},"modified":"2022-12-14T15:04:58","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T23:04:58","slug":"meraloma-rugby-endowment-fund","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/support-a-fund\/club-funds\/meraloma-rugby-endowment-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"Meraloma Rugby Endowment Fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Located in the heart of of Kitsilano in Vancouver BC, the Meraloma Rugby Club has teams for all ages and abilities. \u00a0Whether it be competitive or social, men’s or women’s, junior, mini or even older, the Lomas have a team for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Meralomas have three Senior Men’s teams, one Women’s team, a large Junior and Mini program offering rugby to a wide range of youth, and the Legends, who are the Lomas very own “old boy” team.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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HISTORY<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Meraloma Club is an amateur athletic organization founded in 1923 by Bill Edwards and 11 other swimmers from the local Kitsilano area of Vancouver, Canada.\u00a0 They initially called their club the Mermaids. Canadian Football, Rugby Football and various sports soon followed and as the club grew to include sports other than swimming, the members developed a new name, suggested by Douglas Hand.\u00a0 He took “Mer” from the original Mermaids, added “al” from alpha, “om” from omega (the first and last letters of the the Greek alphabet) and “a” from “always” that was interpreted to mean “Mermaids, first, last and always”.\u00a0 Later, the permanent Club motto found favour: “Once a Meraloma Always a Meraloma”.\u00a0 Thus, the Mermaid Athletic Club became the Meraloma Club.<\/p>\n

The club even developed their own songs.\u00a0 For several years in the late 1920’s and early ’30’s a women’s swim team was part of the club.\u00a0 Women’s sports returned to the club in 1973 after a 45 year absence, at first in the form of field-hockey and eventually, soccer, basketball, volleyball and touch football.\u00a0 The club currently has 350 active male and female members and 100 associates in 8 sport sections.<\/p>\n

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Eric Whitehead, former sports writer for the Vancouver Province Newspaper wrote.\u00a0“Speaking from my experience … I know of no other organization that so epitomizes the special spirit and character of a community that has produced a far greater pro-rata share of outstanding athletes of national and international calibre than any other area in the nation.\u00a0 Now, in these times of change, with all the swing back to participation sport at all age levels, the Meraloma Club stands as a time-tested model of all that is best in volunteer community sports establishments.”<\/p>\n

The Meraloma Club is housed in a 1923 Parks & Recreation vintage structure, on Connaught Park which it continues to renovate and maintain.\u00a0 A Heritage Award from the City of Vancouver was earned in 1979 for preserving architectural integrity during renovations.<\/p>\n

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FUND<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Meraloma Rugby Endowment Fund was established in November 2022 and is a vehicle for raising and investing funds to support the ongoing operating expenses of the club through its endowment. It is one of over 60 funds\u00a0 of the Canadian Rugby Foundation, which as a registered charitable public foundation, can provide tax receipts to donors.<\/p>\n

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USE THE FORM BELOW TO DONATE TO THE MERALOMA RUGBY ENDOWMENT FUND:<\/strong><\/p>\n