Aquanauts benefit from Trillium grant

The Aquanauts are looking to use their largest grant to date to improve their development.
The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) announced Tuesday that communities in the Northwest region, including the local swim club, will benefit from grants totalling $796,700.
Several grants support initiatives that will improve local sports organizations and facilities, helping to increase participation and make sports more accessible to residents.
The Aquanauts were awarded a $24,000 grant over two years to assist with coaching, leadership development and training for children and youth to develop competitive and recreational swimming skills.
Club president John Dutton said its the first Trillium grant they’ve received.
“We heard about it a month ago. We had spoken to them and sounded pretty optimistic,” said Dutton. “We’ve had quite a turnover of assistant coaches so we’re looking to improve training.”
Currently, Andrea Boileau and Ashleigh Dutton will serve as head coach Roman Ramirez this season, which unofficially resumes with their regional summer swim camp here from Aug. 5-9 and 12-16.
Other local outlets to receive money were the local volunteer bureau received $25,000 over one month to purchase and install new furnace equipment in their CN Station enabling them to continue offering volunteer programs and services and the Rainy Lake Nordic ski club was given $25,000 over one year to develop trails.
The OTF, an agency of the Ministry of Culture, gets $100 million in government funding from the province’s charity casinos. The Foundation works with others across Ontario to build healthy, caring and economically strong communities through strategic investments in the areas of Arts and Culture, Environment, Human and Social Services and Sports and Recreation.