A senior holds a chick at the Masterpiece Southland Meadows retirement home Kevin Kyle/CHAT News

By Jesse Gill

Applications for New Horizons Seniors Program grants open soon

Jul 25, 2024 | 8:10 PM

A federal grant that supports community-based projects by seniors designed for seniors will open for proposals in August.

The New Horizons for Seniors Program funds eligible projects up to $25,000 where seniors must lead or play a vital role in the program’s planning and delivery.

Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner MP Glen Motz said it needs to meet one of the required objectives.

“Anything from enhancing volunteerism, engaging participation in the community, making people aware of elder abuse. It can include participation in other social activities as well as infrastructure type programs,” Motz said.

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“That’s the sort of stuff that the program has done for our riding over the years, anyway.”

A recipient of the grant in 2023 was the Dunmore Equestrian Society, which runs a program where they bring animals to visit seniors.

The program attended 11 different senior homes in Medicine Hat and area.

It included a duck and chick hatching program, a butterfly hatching program, and a number of others to bring a positive mood to the homes.

READ: ‘It makes people really happy’: Ducks and chicks bring smiles to seniors in Medicine Hat

Joyce Stuber, a director with the society, runs the program and said she is very thankful for the funding and hopes to continue the program for years to come, seeing the impact and enjoyment the seniors get from it.

“It helps out their community. It brings family to them a little bit more than they probably would,” Stuber said.

“It brings a buzz. When those chicks and ducks hatched this year, it brings a lot more traffic into the senior homes. It’s usually family members that come and say hi. And then the seniors have something to talk about with their family members.”

Motz and Stuber both encourage organizations in the area that fit the criteria to apply for grant.

Applications open up Aug. 1, with a deadline of Sept. 12 at 1 p.m.