CFKA Announces Grants for City, County Charities

Jeff Green | Dec 14, 2016

The Community Foundation for Kingston & Area (CFKA) granted $189,363 to regional charities for 24 innovative projects to enhance the quality of life in Kingston and Frontenac County on Wednesday (December 14).  

Gayle Barr, the Community Grants Committee Chair, pointed out that the grants range from smaller, practical grants with immediate benefits to the community, to  larger program grants aimed at changing how we think, such as a $25,328 grant for Youth Diversion’s Addiction Literacy Program.

The grants include a number that will directly benefit residents of Frontenac County. Among these are two grants to the Grace Centre in Sydenham, the home base of Southern Frontenac Community Services (SFCS). One of these is the Good Graces Cafe start up, an $8,110 grant to start up a new cafe at the Grace Centre.

“The café is a social enterprise pilot project to create a safe space for seniors – particularly those who are lonely or feel isolated in the community – to socialize with others. It is also a place for seniors and high school youth to volunteer together, to stay active in their community and build inter-generational connectedness,” said the citation from CFKA.

A second grant of $7,826 will go towards helping SFCS develop its newly expanded property to include a large garden to produce fresh vegetables for its food bank and meals on wheels programs. Some of the money will also go towards accessible pathway for seniors in the SFCS Adult Day Program.

The Northern Frontenac Community Services (NFCS) Youth Program has received a grant of $5,560 for a program called “From Gaming to Games”. It is a 16 week program that will enhance the activities offered for youth in South, Central and North Frontenac with help from a YMCA Y-GAP Outreach worker. It is designed to  engage youth in fun, physical activities while providing messages to encourage youth from developing habits that could lead to addictions to electronic games on phones, tablets, and computers. A variety of activities, including lacrosse, snow shoeing and other sports will be used to entice youth to switch from electronic gaming to physically playing games.

The County of Frontenac has also received a grant of $7,400 to be used fo residents of the Fairmount Home Long Term Care Facility. ‘History Through Expression” is an integrated arts program marking Canada’s 150th year. Residents of the home will be “engaged in self-expression by making hand drums, being educated in aboriginal culture, storytelling, having fun with theatre games, mime and props, learning seated dances and joining in song.”

Other grants have gone to Kingston based agencies that provide programming in Frontenac County as well. These include a $25,328 grant to Youth Diversion for an addiction literacy, an early intervention program to be delivered by youth addictions counsellors focusing on “building resiliency and increasing the capacity for students to understand the impact of drugs and alcohol.”

Other Kingston based include a Youth Diversity conference to be put on by the Kingston Community Health Centres next year (3,049), and a grant to the Four Directions Aboriginal Student Centre at Queen’s of $16,879 which is aimed at promoting civic engagement for indigenous youth with the long term goal of establishing a regional Indigenous Youth Council.

The charities that received funding gathered for a celebration at the Senior’s Centre in Kingston.

The Community Foundation for Kingston & Area was founded in 1995. IT manages $16.5 million in assets and has distributed nearly $10 million over the last 21 years.