Great work

Time will tell if they’re successful or not but you have to admire the dogged determination of those involved in trying to build an assisted living facility in Fort Frances.
After countless meetings, as well as having conducted a survey, toured the new facility over in International Falls, and made a presentation to town council, the Assisted Living Action Group now is embarking on a membership drive in order to fund a feasibility study.
From there, the hope is to build a public, non-profit assisted living facility—quite the ambitious goal for a group of volunteers who are largely seniors themselves.
A.L.A.G. may be facing an uphill battle. Of the 363 responses (as of mid-morning today) to the Fort Frances Times’ weekly web poll, just 36 percent said they would pledge money to build an assisted living facility here while 41 percent would not. The other 23 percent were “unsure.”
Perhaps it’s simply bad timing with residents still reeling from last week’s announcement that the last paper machine running at local mill is being idled indefinitely at month’s end, and that sentiments may change in a rosier economic climate.
Then again, the timing may be perfect. With the exodus of working-aged residents seeking jobs elsewhere, the last thing our community needs is a loss of seniors moving away to assisted living facilities in other centres or to be closer to family.
In fact, evidence suggests that’s already happening.
Any effort to stem that tide, and hopefully reverse it, warrants support—just as our community did in building, for instance, the Townshend Theatre, Ice For Kids Arena, and the Fort Frances Public Library Technology Centre.
In the meantime, thanks to A.L.A.G. for taking on this huge challenge. Being proactive is a lesson we all need to heed.
Keep up the great work.