Several community organizations have received funding for programming supporting local children thanks to this year’s investment from the Moffat Family Fund.
Fort Frances mayor June Caul announced this year’s cohort of recipients of the grant funding at last night’s council meeting. The total funding announced came to $97,000 and has been split amongst 10 different community groups.
Caul shared that she, the selection committee, and the rest of council were encouraged by the responses and applications they had received for this year’s funding, noting that several regular applicants had not been able to submit their names for consideration this year because COVID-19 had prevented them from spending previous funds.
“We’re really pleased with the group of people who have brought in applications for us to look at this year and every single application that we went over as a committee certainly was taken into consideration and given a monetary donation,” she said.
The first group to be announced as recipients of the grant were KidSport Fort Frances, who received $4,500 to help them continue to ensure all youth in town can participate in sports.
“KidSport Fort Frances receives 100-plus applications per year from low-income families requesting financial support to help with the cost of sport registration and equipment,” Caul said.
“Every year, KidSport helps families with over $10,000 in sport registration and equipment fees. KidSport believes that no kid should be left on the sidelines, and all should be given the opportunity to experience the positive benefits of organized sports.”
The second recipient of the evening was the Fort Frances chapter of the Salvation Army, who received $5,000. Caul explained the funds will go towards helping with registration fees for an online camp experience for local youth.
“The Salvation Army Fort Frances Corps would like to sponsor 125 Fort Frances children to experience the virtual online summer camp that is offered by One Hope Canada this summer,” Caul said.
“The online platform will be launched at the beginning of August and provides a flexible schedule for children and their partners to tune in. Funding from the Moffat Family Fund will be used solely to provide registration fees for this endeavour.”
Two different programs under the Northwestern Health Unit (NWHU) were also recipients of Moffat Family funding this year, with the NWHU’s Nutrition on Weekends (NOW) program receiving $10,500, and their Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders programming receiving a separate $2,500.
Caul explained that the NOW program helps to improve the long-term health outcomes in school-aged children by ensuring that children in need have access to healthy nutritious food over the weekend. Getting proper nutrition also helps to ensure that these children can make the most of their childhood and educations, playing and learning with a healthier body and mind.
The FASD program, meanwhile, will use the funding to offer support to parents and caregivers of those affected by FASD, including a wellness retreat and additional supportive materials. There will also be a public awareness drive through social and traditional media outlets, as well as public community events.
The Fort Frances Community Garden and Kids Club also received a portion of the Moffat Family funding this year, with $6,800 coming in that will help to keep the garden running as smoothly as possible, while also providing some upgrades to their facilities and the people who make use of them.
“Community Garden goals for this year are to install more raised beds to try to address the increasing demands for community plots, to rejuvenate the weekly Kids Garden Club, repair and update the existing Kids Club shed and expand and enhance the new sprinkler system to increase garden plots receiving water,” Caul said.
The Fort Frances Volunteer Bureau was a recipient of one of the larger portions of donations from this year’s Moffat Family Fund Grant. The organization was given $22,000 to help with the costs of keeping their building open, something Caul noted has been increasingly difficult in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and has reached critical levels.
“The Fort Frances Volunteer Bureau is quickly approaching a financial crisis due to the negative economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Caul said.
“The loss of tenants renting office space, the decrease in cash donations and the inability to fundraise due to pandemic gathering restrictions has resulted in a crippling reduction in operational revenue. The irony of all this is the same pandemic that greatly increased the numbers of poverty-stricken people has also reduced the funding opportunities to charities and dried up society’s disposable income.”
The application from the Volunteer Bureau notes that unless a more stable source of income can be secured to cover the building’s operational costs, they will be forced to close their doors by October 2022.
Community Living Fort Frances and District’s Open Air Art Studio was another recipient of funding, receiving $2,625 to continue offering their free-to-access art activities around town for everyone to enjoy, while the Friends of the Fort Frances Public Library received $7,658.50 for a cultural heritage knowledge series, which is being offered in partnership with the Rainy River District Right Relations Circle and Fort Frances Museum to benefit children, youth and adults throughout the district by demonstrating First Nations heritage and will help “break down barriers between First Nations and settlers to forge a deeper understanding of each other,” Caul said.
The Moffat Family Fund also granted $4,500 to the Rainy River District Community Policing Committee for its 2022 Safe Halloween Community Event, to help provide a safe Halloween experience for children and their families in conjunction with many other businesses, organizations and volunteers.
The final recipient of Moffat Family Funding for 2022 was the Kiwanis Club of Fort Frances, who received $30,916.50 that will be put towards capital improvements at Sunny Cove Camp. Caul, who herself is a member of the Kiwanis Club, noted that the property is in dire need of several significant repairs in order to continue offering safe camp experiences to youth in the community and across the district.
“These improvements include, but are not limited to: cabin siding replacement, electrical upgrades, bath house repairs, barbecue shed roof, and new mattresses,” June said.
“The project will be completed with the Town of Fort Frances.”
Over the course of the pandemic, the town decided to divest itself of ownership of the Sunny Cove property, though the first group to express interest in taking over operations has since withdrawn their proposal due to unexpected costs associated with repairing the buildings on site.
Caul expressed her thanks to the Moffat Family as well as all of the grant recipients for this year, sharing that the money may come in handy, but it in and of itself is nothing without the work and passion from the individuals who help to keep these community programs running.
