With the deadline for applications having expired last Tuesday, the Fort Frances Community Fund now must determine which groups will receive a share of this year’s allotment of more than $56,000 from the Moffat Family Fund.
And Fort Frances CAO Bill Naturkach, who heads the community fund committee first struck last year to disperse the funds, said making choices undoubtedly will be tough.
“I’m proud to say we’ve got 21 submissions. The total value of the requests is $17,212.30,” he noted Monday. “We’re pleasantly overwhelmed.”
The committee received 14 submissions last year.
“The smallest request was for $1,000 [and] the largest request is $25,000. And obviously there’s many in that wide range between,” Naturkach said.
The committee, which met for the first time Monday, will choose its submissions after two-four meetings. The recommendations then will be submitted to the Winnipeg Foundation, which then presents the final request for funds to the Moffat Family.
The funds should be dispersed by late summer or fall.
Last year, the town received $33,000 from the Winnipeg Foundation to disperse among recipients concerned with helping children and families.
The local committee reviewed 14 submissions, with the selected recipients being the Rainy Lake Air Cadet Squadron, Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving, Fort Frances Museum, Friends of Little League Baseball, Fort Frances Toy Lending Resource Centre, Planned Out-of-Home Respite program, the Salvation Army after-school kids’ club, and the Benevolent Order of Elks.
Last year, the Moffat family entrusted $100 million to the Winnipeg Foundation, which, in turn, is responsible for investing the money and distributing it to communities in need.
After learning of this, Fort Frances applied for—and was chosen to be—one of these recipient communities.







