REDI recently received a $15,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Southeastern Alberta. (Photo Courtesy Ross Lavigne)

By Chris Brown

$15,000 from the CFSEA

Grant helping REDI clients gain more independence

May 31, 2023 | 2:10 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A new grant is already allowing REDI to better help clients with the basics of everyday life.

REDI fund development coordinator Dalton Ehry says the $15,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Southeastern Alberta (CFSEA) will make a huge difference for them.

The mission of REDI is to foster independence and help make space for people living with disabilities to live a full and rich life. One way is to help eligible clients prove they meet the standards to receive payments through AISH, or Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped.

Clients must take the Assessment Relief Funding test to prove they have an IQ lower than 70, a requirement of AISH eligibility. The cost of the test can be up to $1,500 without any subsidy, says Ehry, adding they’ve partnered with a local psychologist to reduce the cost.

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With the CFSEA grant REDI will be able to subsidize the cost to clients even further, and there will be trickle down effects from that, Ehry says.

“It helps them to just start to live a normal life. People with an IQ of lower than 70 have difficulty doing just regular everyday things,” Ehry explains. “So allowing them to not only not have to have that initial cost barrier of that $1,500, they can use their own money to provide themselves with food, shelter, mental health supports and everything else that we do here at REDI.”

Ehry says the REDI Connects division has been trying to get money for the Assessment Relief Funding test for years and years, and that a number of people have already started to access the available assistance.

In total the CFSEA presented $125,000 in the Spring Grant Cycle to 21 local charities at its Founder’s Day Picnic on Monday.

Grants committee chair Glenda Hawthorne says they focused on the priorities of mental health, work and economy and vulnerable populations when awarding the grants and are pleased to support a vibrant, healthy, caring community through them.

With this Spring Grant Cycle the CFSEA’s all-time grant giving total is more than $8.5 million to more than 100 charities.

As well, an additional $187,900 was provided to area organizations, charities and school divisions through the group’s Endowment Fund.