Ten local organizations have received a total of $115,371.07 in grants from the Steinbach Community Foundation (SCF) at an award night last week.
Each year, charities apply for funding, and after careful discussion, the SCF board selects the successful applicants. This year, one of the foundation’s goals was to fully fund selected projects, rather than contributing just a portion.
The Steinbach Fire Department received the largest grant, totaling $27,197.76.
Fire Chief Kel Toews says the funds will go toward purchasing a new inflatable fire safety house.
“It is replacing our trailer and it's a lot more versatile because it's inflatable. You can fold it up and you could we can bring it inside buildings, we're not restricted to a parking lot somewhere. t's a lot more versatile. This House is also ADA (Accessible Canada Act) compliant, which the trailer wasn't, it had several steps going into it.”
Toews notes that this is a joint venture between the Steinbach and Hanover Fire Departments, along with the Southeast Mutual Aid District.
The new fire safety house will be a valuable tool for fire prevention education.
“It has three rooms in it. There's a kitchen, there's a living room, and there's a bedroom. And then we take primarily the kids to each room and explain fire safety in each room.”
He adds that without this funding, the department wouldn’t have been able to make this important upgrade.
“Thank you very much for the donation, it's much appreciated. Thanks to the Steinbach Community Foundation, as well as the Thomas Sill Manitoba Fund.”
Another recipient was the Steinbach Family Resource Centre, awarded $15,000 to install a commercial gas stove.
Executive Director Jo-Anne Dalton says the new equipment will significantly boost their growing food programming efforts.
“We've seen the economy and the challenges that food prices continue to go up, and that has a huge impact financially and nutritionally on the families that we support. So, increasing our food programming means increasing volunteer opportunities at our centre, it means increasing our capacity to be able to give back ready-made meals as well as recipes and teaching families on how to use products that they might be able to access a little bit more readily.”
Dalton notes that the centre receives weekly fresh produce donations, which volunteers turn into soup and other meals. The new stove will be a major upgrade from what they’ve been using.
“Our stove before it's just a regular kitchen stove, and it's probably about 12 years old,” says Dalton.” When we put our soup pot on our regular stove, it takes up the entire stove top, it is a 40-gallon soup pot that we use. So, this will allow us now to be able to make soup but also still have access to the regular stove, it has two ovens, it has a grill top, and it has all the regular burners and so we'll be able to do more with our kitchen.”
Dalton is very appreciative of the foundation and the donors.
“There's a lot of work that has gone into it, and it really does have an impact when you can contribute to an organization who's doing that grassroots frontline work for families, just amazing.”
The Steinbach Arts Council was also among this year’s recipients, receiving $9,000 to enhance their security system.
Executive Director David Klassen says that as a nonprofit, they must be strategic with how they use grant funding, but he feels this was a valuable opportunity to upgrade their facility.
“A security system is a huge benefit. We are asked to take care of thousands of kids throughout the year and some of that is during the day, and some of that is in the evening. And this security system will really help us to understand who is moving through our building and how we can essentially keep families and participants in our programs safe.”
Klassen says it is a real honour to be chosen to receive funding.
“We value all of the partnerships that we have currently and not a single piece of generosity is overlooked or taken for granted, so we really appreciate what this foundation does for organizations like mine and really can't thank them enough.”
Jake Epp Library received $9,945, which Director Aubrey Walker says will be used to purchase more books.
“We got around $10,000 that we're going to put towards our WonderBook collection, which previously has been this tiny little thing,” says Library Director Audrey Walker. “We started out to see if it was popular, and it was wildly popular, but we just didn't have the budget to expand it for a lot of years. So, we are so excited to finally be able to do that.”
Walker says the funding will bring in about 120 new books.
“The books themselves are quite expensive because it's that audio built into there, which is a wonderful system but makes them expensive to buy.”
She adds that the books are especially helpful for beginner readers and says she was thrilled when they arrived.
Other charities to receive funding include:
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$12,468.75 to Musee Pointe des Chenes Museum Inc - move heritage house
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$5,000 to Villa Youville St. Anne – courtyard community fireplace
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$9,120 Southeast Cancer Support Services – database
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$11,246.35 to Cedarwood Supportive Housing – new security system to replace keypad
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$6,220 to Safe Families Canada, Steinbach – specialized volunteer training
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$10,173.21 Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation – 2 adapted tricycles, 1 iPad