Trillium grants total $473,000 for local area, include curling club, splash pad

Community organizations in the Glengarry-Prescott-Russell area will benefit from $473,000 in Ontario Trillium Foundation grants this year, including the Vankleek Hill Curling Club and a splash pad in St-Isidore Park.

The local grants are part of $2.5 million in OTF grants awarded to 50 non-profit and charitable organizations in eastern Ontario, including Ottawa, to expand social programs, develop literacy and work skills, and improve community facilities.

"OTF funding helps new and more established groups to grow stronger and ensure that the interests and needs of local residents are served in their communities," said Sandra Lalonde, chair of the OTF grant review team for the Champlain region. "Behind each grant is a commitment to community growth and development."

The Vankleek Hill Curling Club will receive $40,000 over one year to help fund renovations to the club's facility, which will make the building fully accessible to seniors and people with physical disabilities. An accessible washroom and automatic doors will be added to a new addition, and a lift will be installed to provide access to the main building.

"The main thing is that it's very hard for people with poor mobility to get into the club," explained club president Murray Allen. "The washrooms are downstairs, and another very small one upstairs, and we needed a washroom that's accessible to people with disabilities. So we're putting washrooms upstairs, wheelchair accessible, as well as a wheelchair lift."

The building's new addition will be located on the east side of the club, meaning the door will be accessible from the parking lot. The addition will contain the new washrooms, and will effectively replace the existing portion of the building between the ice and the reception hall.

Allen noted the club purchased a new ice plant last year and will take advantage of the renovation period to coordinate its installation at the same time.

"We will be removing the [addition] that is there now, and building one a little longer and wider," he said. "It will serve as the entrance to the club and for the new ice plant."

The work is expected to begin this week and will take about six weeks to complete. It will not interfere with the regular use of the club, however, as the power comes from a separate source.

"We're ready to go, we have all our plans done and our contractors are ready to start," Allen said.

"Our club is used a lot by senior people," he added, explaining it is rented by the bridge club as well as for anniversaries, birthdays, and funeral receptions. "It will be quite an advantage to our club. I'm really delighted the Trillium Foundation saw it fit to support our project. We've been looking forward to this for some time."

To help purchase and install a splash pad in St-Isidore Park, $41,100 will be awarded to The Nation Municipality over a six-month period. The project is expected to increase opportunities for accessible and affordable physical and recreational activities for children and their families.

The Maxville and District Chamber of Commerce is slated to receive $9,000 over one year to grow the Maxville Music Festival by supporting artists' fees, increasing its promotion and enhancing the technical quality of the concerts with new lighting and sound equipment.

Services communautaires de Prescott et Russell was awarded $12,000 over one year to hire a consultant to assist in the development of a five-year strategic plan, which will help this organization increase its capacity to respond to the changing demographics and needs of its clientele in Prescott-Russell.

Radio communautaire Cornwall-Alexandria Inc. will receive $108,800 over one year to ensure residents in Prescott-Russell and Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry counties have access to Francophone-community radio programming by updating the transmission and broadcasting equipment at CHOD-FM.

Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité will benefit from $100,000 over two years to obtain a full-time coordinator who will create a structure for people in the food-production sector to meet, collaborate and strengthen the market for local produce throughout Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Prescott-Russell and Ottawa.

The Glengarry Inter-Agency Group Inc. will receive $79,900 over two years to develop the infant-literacy kit program and train community partners to distribute the kits and deliver the program throughout Stormont, Dundas, Glengarry and Prescott- Russell counties.

The Tri-County Literacy Council has been awarded $50,000 over one year to support the development of a social enterprise, including the hiring of a coordinator who will explore various models and develop and implement strategic and evaluation plans to deliver the Parent as Teachers program, which engages parent-volunteers to share child-development information with parents of children aged zero to three years in Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Prescott-Russell and Akwesasne.

Finally, Victim Services of Stormont, Dundas, Glengarry and Akwesasne will receive $32,400 over one year to reduce physical barriers at the organization's facility by adding fully accessible doors, a lift and a washroom. The organization will then be able to better assist police and other emergency services in meeting the immediate needs of victims of crime and tragic circumstances.