By : Chris Halliday
Source : http://www.orangeville.com
Category : Small Business Grant
Rosemary Ferguson always looks forward to the friendly chats at Hospice Dufferin.
Ferguson, who has systematic lupus, takes part in three Hospice Dufferin programs — one-on-one volunteer counselling, the Circles Day Program for terminally ill patients and art therapy — that funding from Dufferin County helps make a reality.
“It has become like coming home,” Ferguson remarked. “Let’s just say last year was a terrible year and I don’t think I would have ever got through it without the hospice.”
The Circles Day Program gives clients the opportunity to let their guard down, speak freely together about their lives and the difficulties each of them face. More importantly, if it is bad day, they don’t have to pretend everything is OK.
“You can just let it all hang out. If it is a good day, you can help support someone who is having a bad day, or you can just laugh,” Ferguson said.
“We can say it hurts, or I saw the doctor and I wasn’t happy, I ate a pound of chocolate. We talk about everything, it just fills a big hole.”
To make these programs possible, Hospice Dufferin, which serves 300 to 350 clients on a $193,000 budget — 25 per cent is funded by the Central West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) — relies on donations and municipal grants.
Subject to county council’s approval this week, Hospice Dufferin will receive $8,000 in 2012, which is “absolutely vital to us,” its executive director, Maureen Riedler, explained.
“We typically get requests that are about double what is in the budget,” remarked county treasurer Alan Selby.
“We have had the budget at $120,000, this will be the fourth year it has been the same. You have to go back to 2008 when it was $100,000.”
The county’s General Government Services (GGS) committee has recommended giving a total of $118,250 in community grants to 36 different agencies, groups or organizations in Dufferin.“That is a huge piece for us,” she said. “The $8,000 is very valuable for us.”
Nancy Stallmach, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dufferin & District, said the agency currently has 63 Big Brother Big Sisters matches, with another 80 In-School Mentoring program participants, plus more than 90 children in its Go Girls! After School Program.
The $8,000 from the county will help keep those programs afloat, as well as pay for caseworker salaries and costs associated with new families joining the agency.
“We don't receive regular government funding from any other branch of government,” Stallmach said in an email, noting the agency’s budget is about $130,000. “Without this funding, we would have to cut staff hours and programs.”
It appears the winner of the county community grant sweepstakes in 2012 will be the Town of Orangeville’s Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC), which may end up receiving $15,000.
If approved, the contribution from the county will represent about 7.3 per cent of the SBEC’s operating expenses.
“It has a tremendous impact on our ability to serve the broader Dufferin community,” said Ruth Phillips, co-ordinator of the SBEC, noting about 78 per cent of the employer-based operations in Dufferin are considered small businesses. “It is an incredibly important part of our efforts to deliver services and quality programming.”
There are too many worthy initiatives the county helps fund to list, but if you want to put a face to how these dollars help, take a look in Ferguson’s direction.
Without the support of Hospice Dufferin’s programs — they likely would not exist in their current form without the county’s support — Ferguson has no idea what frame of mind she would be in today.
“It is a place where you feel secure, where you can be yourself,” Ferguson said of the Circle Days Program. “It allows those of us, in this point in our lives, to just be ourselves. We don’t have to say, ‘Oh no, I’m fine.’ ... You don’t have to worry about pretending it is a good day and upsetting those close to you.”
Source : http://www.orangeville.com/community/life/article/1292821--grants-can-touch-lives
Source : http://www.orangeville.com
Category : Small Business Grant
Rosemary Ferguson always looks forward to the friendly chats at Hospice Dufferin.
Ferguson, who has systematic lupus, takes part in three Hospice Dufferin programs — one-on-one volunteer counselling, the Circles Day Program for terminally ill patients and art therapy — that funding from Dufferin County helps make a reality.
“It has become like coming home,” Ferguson remarked. “Let’s just say last year was a terrible year and I don’t think I would have ever got through it without the hospice.”
The Circles Day Program gives clients the opportunity to let their guard down, speak freely together about their lives and the difficulties each of them face. More importantly, if it is bad day, they don’t have to pretend everything is OK.
“You can just let it all hang out. If it is a good day, you can help support someone who is having a bad day, or you can just laugh,” Ferguson said.
“We can say it hurts, or I saw the doctor and I wasn’t happy, I ate a pound of chocolate. We talk about everything, it just fills a big hole.”
To make these programs possible, Hospice Dufferin, which serves 300 to 350 clients on a $193,000 budget — 25 per cent is funded by the Central West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) — relies on donations and municipal grants.
Subject to county council’s approval this week, Hospice Dufferin will receive $8,000 in 2012, which is “absolutely vital to us,” its executive director, Maureen Riedler, explained.
Hospice Dufferin isn’t the only local agency poised to get a financial boost from the county this year.
Some of those organizations include the
Friends of Island Lake ($10,000), Highlands Youth for Christ ($8,000),
Dufferin Parent Support Network ($8,000), Big Brothers Big Sisters of
Dufferin & District ($8,000) and Caledon/Dufferin Victim Services
($5,000), among other notable causes or community initiatives.
“We typically get requests that are about double what is in the budget,” remarked county treasurer Alan Selby.
“We have had the budget at $120,000, this will be the fourth year it has been the same. You have to go back to 2008 when it was $100,000.”
The county’s General Government Services (GGS) committee has recommended giving a total of $118,250 in community grants to 36 different agencies, groups or organizations in Dufferin.“That is a huge piece for us,” she said. “The $8,000 is very valuable for us.”
Nancy Stallmach, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dufferin & District, said the agency currently has 63 Big Brother Big Sisters matches, with another 80 In-School Mentoring program participants, plus more than 90 children in its Go Girls! After School Program.
The $8,000 from the county will help keep those programs afloat, as well as pay for caseworker salaries and costs associated with new families joining the agency.
“We don't receive regular government funding from any other branch of government,” Stallmach said in an email, noting the agency’s budget is about $130,000. “Without this funding, we would have to cut staff hours and programs.”
It appears the winner of the county community grant sweepstakes in 2012 will be the Town of Orangeville’s Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC), which may end up receiving $15,000.
If approved, the contribution from the county will represent about 7.3 per cent of the SBEC’s operating expenses.
“It has a tremendous impact on our ability to serve the broader Dufferin community,” said Ruth Phillips, co-ordinator of the SBEC, noting about 78 per cent of the employer-based operations in Dufferin are considered small businesses. “It is an incredibly important part of our efforts to deliver services and quality programming.”
There are too many worthy initiatives the county helps fund to list, but if you want to put a face to how these dollars help, take a look in Ferguson’s direction.
Without the support of Hospice Dufferin’s programs — they likely would not exist in their current form without the county’s support — Ferguson has no idea what frame of mind she would be in today.
“It is a place where you feel secure, where you can be yourself,” Ferguson said of the Circle Days Program. “It allows those of us, in this point in our lives, to just be ourselves. We don’t have to say, ‘Oh no, I’m fine.’ ... You don’t have to worry about pretending it is a good day and upsetting those close to you.”
Source : http://www.orangeville.com/community/life/article/1292821--grants-can-touch-lives
