CHAT News File Photo

By Gates Guarin

Community Foundation of Southeastern Alberta

Close to $200,000 awarded in grant funding to 23 community organizations

Jun 21, 2022 | 5:27 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Pilot projects, support services and community programs across southeastern Alberta will receive some much-needed funding from the Community Foundation of Southeastern Alberta (CFSEA).

Twenty-three local community organizations and charities were awarded grants to help fund projects which support different aspects of the community, including financial literacy programs, texting support services and a community kitchen.

The CFSEA awarded $192,115 to help fund these projects. Applications were submitted for up to $25,000, and the association’s grant committee made recommendations to the board of directors on how best to allocate the grant money.

Niki Gray, executive director for CFSEA, says the association typically sees around 35 to 40 applications each grant cycle, and awards are given out twice a year, once in spring and again in the fall. Gray says organizations are selected based on the programs and ideas they bring to the community.

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“It is about impact and how many people can be impacted by the project or the program, or the sustainability of the program as well.” says Gray.

The Canadian Mental Health Association, Southeast Region (CMHA) is one of the organizations which received funding. The association was awarded $15,000 to put toward subsidized suicide prevention training. Lyndon Grunewald, executive director of the CMHA, says the funding comes at a crucial time, as people continue to deal with the mental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Grunewald says the funding will help make training more accessible and widely available to those in the community.

“This is just a way of helping us get more people in the classes and facilitate more discussions so that more people can be a benefit to helping others,” Grunewald says. “Whether it’s in their immediate circle of influence, or just maybe someone on the street that you want to pass and as a concerned citizen, be available to support in a more directed and available way.”

Grunewald says the funding also allows the program to increase awareness of their training in the community, as well as program expansion in the future.