By Chad Ingram
Some county organizations have received funding through the federal New Horizons for Seniors Program.
SIRCH Community Services has received $25000 to conduct Family Roots a year-long pilot project that will assist seniors with genealogical research. The program will match volunteers with isolated or vulnerable seniors and together they will conduct family research. Local genealogist Donna Gagnon will provide training.
“The wonderful thing about this pilot project is the opportunity for vulnerable and isolated seniors to feel connected and empowered by learning more about themselves and their ancestors through doing family research” Gagnon said in a release from SIRCH. “We are excited to offer a new educational training opportunity that will be informative interesting and most importantly fun!”
The Abbey Retreat Centre a retreat at Abbey Gardens for people living with cancer received about $12200 from the fund for the creation of a training program for seniors by seniors.
“The goal of the grant is for us to develop a seniors-to-seniors . . . I’ll call it a capacity-building program” retreat centre executive director Doug Norris told the paper explaining the training program will build seniors’ volunteering skills in helping to care for those with cancer but also just for general community volunteerism.
Some of the money will also be used to modify some space at the retreat – “a space for volunteers to be together kind of like a staff room type of space” Norris said – as well as upgrading some technology at the centre.
The Wilberforce Curling Club also received a grant of $18650 for a project but members said that due to language in their agreement they were not able to discuss the details of that project until later in the month.
“It’s imperative to recognize the valuable contribution seniors have made to our society” Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MP Jamie Schmale said in a release. “By supporting New Horizons for Seniors Program projects we are acting to ensure that seniors are able to maintain a good quality of life and continue to be active members of their communities.”
More than $256000 in New Horizons funding was announced throughout the riding.
