The Southwest Facility Foundation is a little further in towards its goal with a donation from Pioneer Co-op. 

This latest donation of $10,000 came from a partnership between Pioneer Co-op and the Swift Current Broncos. Pioneer Co-op not only helped to host Family Day family skate at the InnovationPlex, but also designed the Broncos reverse retro jerseys. 

Dallas Kirkpatrick, marketing manager for Pioneer Co-op, was able to partner with former Broncos player Taylor Vause, on designing the jersey which had some of the proceeds going towards the money raised in the donation. 

"He and I got together and created and designed the jersey with the approval of the Broncos," said Kirkpatrick. "The specifics behind the jersey were that we leaned into what the NHL has done for the last few years with the reverse retro program."

The jerseys were a throwback to the 1996-2002 Broncos uniforms, with updated colours and styling. The jerseys were worn during the Family Day game and auctioned off afterward. 

The money raised off the auctioning of these retro refits helped them bring in the $10,000. After they had it, they just had to choose a local non-profit to contribute to.

"The Pioneer Co-op then chose to donate to the Southwest Facilities Foundation," said Kirkpatrick. "The idea there is that it's the talk of the town and the big fundraiser right now. We wanted to have a sports/family theme. We thought that it was a perfect fit."

Pioneer Co-op has a long tradition of giving back to the community. In 2023 alone, the Pioneer Co-op put $14.6 million into patronage allocation. That's money sent back to members, as well as community efforts around its various operation centres.