At 2nd Fort Victoria Scouts, we want our hall to be Accessible, Safe and a better Community Asset. We are almost there, but making the all-important access ramps will cost another $60,000.

Please help us finish the job.

2nd Fort Victoria Scouts, located in the heart of Fairfield, is the last Scout Group in the City of Victoria. Our Group has a history going back over 100 years, 86 years in our hall at 459 Chester Avenue. We are a busy Group; pre-covid, 110 youth aged between 5 and 18, boys and girls, and 30 volunteers taking part in the programs on offer. The pandemic made things difficult but the group is growing again.

Our hall is over 112 years old and wasn’t built with access in mind. To date, we have spent over $225,000 to add an extension with an accessible washroom and new storage room, upgrade the emergency exits, refit and re-plumb the existing washrooms, change the heating to a heat pump, upgrade the lighting, put on a new roof and rebuild the front entrance. In 8 years, we have raised more than $120,000 for the new building with a fantastic bottle drive.

In November 2020, we thought we had enough funds in place for this project but prices for building work skyrocketed and, inevitably with an old building, there were extra expenses for making the structure sound. It has been an incredible task, but now the money is nearly gone and the key to the project, the access ramps, are beyond our finances. The estimate is that it will take $30,000 for concrete work and $30,000 for the railings to complete the work. The access ramps and railings are expensive because they must meet the current standards for assembly buildings in Canada.

All donations over $20 will get a tax receipt and everyone who has donated may have their name put on our donor display board.

2nd Fort Victoria is entirely run and the hall maintained by volunteers. We are very grateful to the City of Victoria, the Victoria Foundation, the BC Gaming Commission and many members of the public that have helped financially support our Scout Group.