Lyndoch Living's commercial arm will continue its sponsorship of the May Racing Carnival for another three years.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Chief executive officer Doreen Power said the Lyndoch board had endorsed her proposal to extend the sponsorship of the Grand Annual Steeplechase from 2020 to 2022 after the 2017-19 three-year deal expired.
While she wouldn't confirm how much the sponsorship was worth, Ms Power said the funds came from its commercial arm Waterfront Residential Living.
She said that commercial money was private money, was not restricted and was not government funding.
The Standard reported in 2017 that the first three-year sponsorship deal was worth more than $50,000.
Funds from Lyndoch's commercial arm were also used to sponsor footy clubs, nippers, Standing Tall, South West Coast Leadership and a range of school initiatives.
On Thursday, The Standard reported Lyndoch Living had posted a loss of almost $400,000, largely due to the buyout of a medical clinic and Terang aged-care facility, but was confident it would return to profit in two or three years.
Ms Power said the 45 residents that Lyndoch took on an outing to last year's May races had such a ball that it gave her the "passion to say 'that's what we should be doing'".
"It was an amazing day," she said.
"They had a ball and they're race people. They all knew people. And I just think that's community isn't it.
"I'm pretty sure I'll have my tent full this year. It's about them. It's their lifestyle."
About 60 residents were scheduled to go, but an outbreak of illness prevented all from attending.
Lyndoch had a tent set up at the races for the residents and it brought together not just residents from the retirement arm, but across all sections of the facility including high-care and dementia patients.
"Part of that sponsorship is about promoting the waterfront living, and living well in Warrnambool," she said.
"It's about branding retirement living, and retirement living is really something we're trying to grow here."
Ms Power said that while she was not really into horse racing, many of her residents were.
"It's a racing community," she said.
She said one of her visions for the site was to make it integrated and seamless between retirement living, villas, hostel and high-care.
"Every part is your home," she said.
"If you're in retirement living you actually want to stay there until you die, I want to be able to put services in there so you can."
Ms Power said she was starting to look at stage three of the $80-$100 million masterplan which is the revamping and expansion of its waterfront retirement living hub.
The stage one replacement of the Swinton wing is under construction and the new medical centre is expected to start in July.
Read more:
Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.