The Morden Tabor Home (MTH) Board is fundraising for an Accessibility Path which will be 8 feet wide and around a kilometer long. The Tabor Home Board is working with southern Health, who owns the land, to create this space which will require culverts, retaining walls, fencing and rails for safety.
Board Chair Helena Goertz explained.
"It's been on our radar and in our dreams since we built our current building. The pathway is to connect all the outdoor courtyards of Tabor Home. Now, two of them kind of face towards the parking area, but this pathway will come up to each of those parking areas. So, you could technically go from path to path like that."
Goertz shared the intent for everyone to use this space.
"Our hope for this is to be able to give families a nice place to walk into the yard and to have activity outside the window. So, this pathway isn't only for residents of Tabor Home and their families, but we want the community to be able to use it as well. So that folks inside, maybe that they don't have somebody there to go out with them, can see other people utilizing this and bring a sense of community to them."
Goertz also noted this path could be used if an evacuation is ever required, giving emergency crews access through the accessible path for staff to help residents to get out safely.
She described the many ways community will use this path to connect to the residents.
"Just seeing somebody on a tricycle or a mom pushing a baby carriage or a child running with their pet on a leash, those kinds of things can bring such warmth to someone's heart, and also maybe trigger wonderful memories for them from when they were young or people they knew when were young. We're just hoping to really have a new avenue. for them to connect again. These last few years, they've kind of been locked away from the rest of the community and we're hoping this will bring more engagement."
Goertz emphasized the benefit this accessible path will have for the residents to get outside, safely and easily.
"We're also kind of hoping that when people are out that they'll be able to talk to people walking on the path and maybe meet friends they haven't seen for a long time, or those kinds of things, and be able to tell stories, share their lives, share their culture. You know, we've become very multicultural, and they can just connect with people. It's really important to give them a good quality of life and I think that quality comes by connecting with others and we're hoping this will allow them to do that."
The project received and early boost in funding from the Morden Community Thrift Store donating $10,000 to the project last week. Goertz expressed her gratitude for the support, as all of the funds for the estimated $500, 000 project will need to be raised through donations and grants.
