Petrolia, Ontario, July 20, 2005 – The Oil Heritage District Community Centre Association (OHDCCA) is benefiting from the Farm Credit Canada (FCC) AgriSpirit Fund with a donation of $25,000.

Through the FCC AgriSpirit Fund, the OHDCCA is building a new community centre that will meet the social and recreational need of people of all ages and abilities for the surrounding communities. This centre will provide access to healthy lifestyle programs, fitness, swimming, child care, seniors programs, programs for the mentally and physically challenged, volunteer development and programs to serve the community's youth. This centre will strengthen and preserve the strong sense of rural Central Lambton.

Gary Paling, FCC District Manager for Essex, Kent and Lambton counties noted, “We have 100 offices in Canada, it is great to be able to help communities in which our staff and customers live and work! In our District, three projects were chosen with this being the largest and our staff are very proud to be a part of these important initiatives. It’s this spirit and passion that makes Ontario a great place to live.”

Bob Tanner, Fundraising Chair for the OHDCCA project stated, “I was thrilled when Patti Newman (Customer Service Representative for FCC) called to advise us that our AgriSpirit application had been awarded $25,000.  This is another example of businesses operating within our community pulling together to make this project happen.  Prior to this I knew very little about FCC but now I see an office that is as excited as we are with this donation and project!”

From the 489 applications received this past winter, FCC selected 38 projects from across Canada.

In November 2004, FCC announced the AgriSpirit Fund. This Fund awarded $400,000 towards capital projects for rural communities with populations under 100,000. These projects will receive between $5,000 to $25,000 to create or enhance facilities in their community. A significant amount of time and consideration went into each evaluation including how the project would make a difference in the community.

The FCC AgriSpirit Fund will continue for a second year. Details regarding the eligibility criteria and application process will be posted this fall through the FCC website at www.fcc-fac.ca.

Operating out of 100 offices located primarily in rural Canada, FCC employees are passionate about the business of agriculture. FCC's healthy portfolio of more than $11 billion and 12 consecutive years of portfolio growth are a reflection of our customers' success.

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For more information, please contact:

Gary Paling
Farm Credit Canada
District Manager
(519) 380-8812

Nadine Hakim
Farm Credit Canada (Bilingual)
Corporate Communications
(306) 780-8572