Spreading Seeds
Have you ever wondered how many people are affected by a single grant? As a Community Foundation we have been blessed to see first-hand, the effect our Community Impact grants have on Peace Country communities and residents. We'd thought we'd share our joy and tell you the stories behind the four charitable agencies that received a Community Impact Grant at our recent Annual General Meeting.
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| Pictures l-r: Brent Oilund, Vice Chair, Community Foundation: Sherry Dennis, Executive Director; Anne Repetowski; Leonard Scharbach, Chair, Community Foundation |
Grande Prairie and Area Council on Aging
Describing themselves as a "One Stop Shop" for information, assistance and referrals for seniors, the Grande Prairie and Area Council on Aging works with caregivers, families of seniors and with seniors themselves.
Operating with three full-time Seniors Outreach workers, the Grande Prairie and Area Council on Aging serves approximately 400 clients a month and as of January 2012, had 5,000 active client-files in their system.
Since its inception in 1982, the Council has seen a lot of changes in seniors' needs and with baby boomers coming of age they continue to evolve to meet the needs of a new generation of seniors who want to remain independent but still require a place where they can receive information.
"We have now seen 90-year olds with 70-year old children and 50-year old grandchildren," said Sherry Dennis, Executive Director of the Council. "Many of these baby boomers are looking after their senior parents."
But that`s not always the case. Sherry recounted the story of a 73-year old client who was scheduled to have hip replacement surgery. Upon her release from hospital, her 92-year old mother was going to stay with her to see her back to good health. The daughter wanted to become a part of the "Meals on Wheels" program that is also operated by the Council so her mother wouldn't have to cook for her as well as provide care.
"I would like to thank the Community Foundation for supporting our seniors and giving them hope," said Sherry Dennis, Executive Director of the Grande Prairie and Area Council on Aging. "We expect to be able to help an addition 100 seniors who find themselves in a crisis situation this year."
The Grande Prairie and Area Council on Aging received a $5,000 grant to provide support for seniors in crisis. (See page 11 of our 2011 Annual Report for more information)
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Pictured l-r: Leonard Scharback, Community Foundation Chair; Carla Shkwarok, Executive Director; Helen Neufeld, Director; Brent Oilund, Community Foundation Vice Chair
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Grande Prairie and Area Safe Communities
Serving the entire Peace Country, Grande Prairie and Area Safe Communities promotes public safety and works to reduce the incidents of injury. This work is crucial when you know the statistics!
According to data published by the Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research, the Peace Country region leads the province with higher-than-average injury rates. Each day the Peace Country can expect eight injury-related hospital admissions and 90 injury-related emergency room visits. Every month, eight residents will die due to an injury.
Believing that education and awareness are key to reversing this trend, Safe Communities is working closely with a wide variety of partners to increase their reach throughout the region. Depending on the topic area they are trying to promote, they work with fire departments, RCMP, health care professionals and government departments such as Alberta Agriculture.
They also operate Safety City to teach Peace Country children safety lessons in a classroom setting. Youngsters are given an opportunity to practise these newly-learned skills in Safety City a specially designed outdoor small city that features streets, sidewalks, buildings, traffic lights and signs, and a railway crossing - all designed to teach a variety of safety skills.
As only one of 61 designated safe communities across Canada, Grande Prairie and Area Safe Communities is also the only Safe Community to own its own building and offer a Safety City. They also provide training and educational opportunities for adults that are focussed on safety and injury prevention.
"On behalf of Grande Prairie and Area Safe Communities, I would like to thank the Community Foundation for their generosity," said Carla Shkwarok, Executive Director of Safe Cities. "This additional funding will be used to support our 2012 Injury Awareness Campaigns that will target children, young workers, families and seniors.
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Pictured L-r: Leonard Scharbach, Chair, Community Foundation; Natalie Hibbert, Cool Aid; Brent Oilund, Vice-Chair, Community Foundation
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Cool Aid Society of Grande Prairie
Cool Aid operates two youth drop-in programs that provide out-of-school activities, including tween and teen drop-in programs, for youth aged six to 17 during the academic year and summer months. Services are free and during the summer, it is not unusual to see as many as fifty youth at each centre each day.
In existence since 1979, Cool Aid is beginning to see the children of former youth who utilized the program.
"There are lots of adults who`ve been kids through the program and have nothing but great memories about it" said Natalie Hibbert, who represented the Cool Aid Society at the Community Foundation's recent Annual General Meeting.
Cool Aid provides friendship, guidance and support in the form of education, referral, life skills, and esteem-building to children and teens. Youth who attend the Centres are able to participate in supervised, positive, safe and fun activities. The aim of the Centre is to prevent youth from being in unsafe environments or situations.
Helen Ficocelli, Executive Director for the Society, reported a 33% jump in the number of youth using the programs between the 2011/2012 fiscal year and the year prior.
"We had 13,706 youth visits last year which had a tremendous impact on our resources," said Helen. "We were very happy to receive one of the Community Impact grants because it means we can continue to offer quality programming to our youth. Thank you to the Community Foundation for their fabulous support."
The Cool Aid Society is a drop in Centre for children and teens, which provides recreation, prevention and referral services in the City of Grande Prairie. Cool Aid Society offers friendship, guidance and support in the form of educational, referral, life skills, and esteem-building to children and teens. Youth who attend the Centre are able to participate in supervised, positive, safe and fun activities. The aim of the Centre is to prevent youth from being in unsafe environments or situations.
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Pictured l-r: Leonard Scharbach, Community Foundation Chair; Connie Miller, Acting Director; Delbert Lubeck, Chair; Brent Oilund Community Foundation Vice-Chair
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Providing Assistance, Counselling and Education (P.A.C.E.)
PACE Treatment Programs provided counselling to 484 adults and children in 2010, alone. Clients are dealing with issues involving sexual and physical abuse, domestic violence, death and loss, sexual assault and suicide.
"We also provided either family support services or safe visitation services to 172 children and 169 parents," said Jacquie Aitken, Executive Director of PACE. "Also, 4,163 children, adults, para-professionals and professionals participated in training."
With a view to developing a Client Resource Library, PACE expects the Community Grant funding to benefit more than 800 people a year.
"Thank you to the Community Foundation for helping to provide these much-needed library resources to our clients," said Jacquie. "Material focussed on the topics of parenting skills, self-esteem building and life skills will be acquired and used to support both clients and our staff."
