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HomeNewsUPDATE: Terence Haight Financial Assistance Committee names 2021 grant winners

UPDATE: Terence Haight Financial Assistance Committee names 2021 grant winners

Gravenhurst council has approved the decision by the Terrence Haight Financial Assistance Committee on who will receive funding from it this year.

Seven of the eight organizations that were selected were approved by the committee in April.

This year, $25,000 was available. The approved applicants are:

  • Big Brothers Big Sisters Muskoka were approved for the $3,000 they asked for. It will be used to cover advertising costs. In their application, it was noted that eight children from Gravenhurst are on the organization’s waiting list.
  • Gravenhurst Against Poverty was approved for $3,800, who will use the money for their taxi program, gas cards, and its volunteer driver program.
  • Gravenhurst Women’s Centre got $3,000 to be used to hire a Programs and Workshops Manager for the Ring Me Up program. It was started during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way for volunteers to check in on women in the community to help prevent social isolation.
  • MiND-AID will receive $9,360 to cover 30-percent of the cost to hire a metal healthcare navigator.
  • Ryde Community Co-op will get $3,340 to go towards improving ventilation in three rooms at their building on 1624 Barkway Road.
  • Safe Quiet Lakes got $1,000 to be used on its outreach program designed to educate safe and considerate boating practices. 
  • YWCA Muskoka got $1,500 which will be used to cover half of the cost to run the Girlz Unplugged program. It’s a three-month program that helps girls in grades five to eight explore healthy relationships, self-care, body image, gender stereotypes, being media and internet savvy, through crafts, role play, discussions, laughs and fun money, according to the Y’s website.

The only applicant that was rejected was the Adulman Foundation who was asking for $18,000, which was going to be used to develop a mobile resiliency crew for mental health interventions. The committee decided not to fund them partly because they’re based in Etobicoke. One of the criteria to get funding through the program is that whatever the organization is using the money for must benefit Gravenhurst residents.

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The Gravenhurst Curling Club was approved for $750 which they were going to use to purchase interior carpeting for the front entranceway of the club’s building on 330 John Street North. As the committee was voting to approve their recommendations, President Susan Lindsay asked for their application to be withdrawn, saying they will apply again next year.

The committee was set up in 2015 after former Gravenhurst resident and local business owner Terence Haight passed away. His biography of the town’s website calls him a “community-minded person” and notes how he often donated to local charities. When he died in 2008, he left over $1 million to the Town of Gravenhurst. After public consultation, council at the time decided to establish an annual grant program which later became the Terence Haight Financial Assistance Committee.

The five-person committee includes Chair Laura Meikle, Gravenhurst Deputy Mayor Heidi Lorenz, Councillor Steven Klinck, Treasurer Ross Jeffery, Randal Jorgensen, and Gordie Merton.

The 2022 application process for the financial assistance program will begin in the fall with a deadline of December 6th, 2021 to get your applications in.

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