Early Christmas presents from Community Foundation

Jeff Green | Dec 04, 2014

Next week the Community Foundation of Kingston and Area (CFKA) will be hosting an event in Kingston to present $107,000 in grants to 30 organisations.

There will be a few faces from Frontenac County at that event, as among those receiving grants are the Frontenac Stewardship Foundation, Northern Frontenac Community Services, and Southern Frontenac Community Services.

The Frontenac Stewardship Foundation will be receiving $5,000 to fund a series of public events on topics of interest to residents in 2015. Among them are four evening seminars, three concerning wetlands and one concerning grasslands. They are also planning two day-long workshops, one dealing with permaculture and one with invasive species.

The intent of the program is to promote awareness among local residents of the natural wonders in their own neighbourhoods and the threats to those natural areas. As well realistic alternatives to traditional land-uses will be looked at. The $5,000 from the CFKA will be used to cover expenses for hall rentals, speaker fees and related costs.

Northern Frontenac Community Services will receive a $4,750 grant to augment its Aboriginal programming for pre-schoolers to include school-aged children between the ages 4 and 10. The new project will provide opportunities for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in primary and junior grades to recognise/maintain pride and appreciation of First Nations culture, with focus on the unique characteristics of our community. The new programs include monthly story-telling circles in four local schools for JK/SK students, and a weekly Cultural Connection Club. Special events will include a Strawberry Moon Festival. Local elders will provide guidance and support for events.

Southern Frontenac Community Services will be receiving $1,800 to improve the infrastructure for their food bank. The Food Bank has been busy in recent years, feeding 762 households, an average of 63 households a month. The money will go towards two new stainless steel shelves, two stainless steel tables to handle produce from the agency’s greenhouse, as well as new flooring in the food packing and distribution area.

Another grant of interest to Frontenac County is one of $3,500 to the Kingston and Area Seed System Initiative (KASSI). The money will be used to train two educators in seed saving techniques – growing out plants to go to seed, and to document seed collection in 2015, and increase board efficiency. Seed distribution and the creation of a Kingston Seed Bank are long-term goals of the organisation.

The CFKA was founded in 1995. It encourages individuals and organisations to establish and grow permanent endowments to fund projects. To date, it has distributed more than $8 million in Kingston and the surrounding region.