CTFS volunteers give back to Community Living
More than a hundred employees from Canadian Tire Financial Services volunteered their time to assist Community Living in Port Colborne.
They began work on the Community Living housing on Northland Avenue early Thursday morning. Volunteers tended to the land by laying down about 1,200 pieces of sod and planting a variety of trees, bushes and flowers. They also built sheds to provide storage for six apartments at the site. Volunteers also built a gazebo and fence around the property.
Community Living provides housing and support for adults and children. The apartments provide short- and long-term housing for people to transition to living on their own.
Vickie Moreland, executive director of Community Living Port Colborne and Wainfleet, said the work CTFS was doing Thursday would benefit a number of people in need. Moreland said she never dreamed the organization would be able to accomplish what the volunteers have with the building and property.
“We never had the funds to think about what we could do out here on the property. And if you could have seen the property even a couple of weeks ago, it was just wasteland,” she said.
CTFS donated $60,000 to cover the cost of supplies and materials.
Greg Craig, president and CEO of CTFS, said it isn’t unusual for the company to give back to various communities. This year is CTFS’s 17th year running its leadership event, through which employees give back to different communities.
“It’s important to our culture to give back to where we live, it has become part of our identity,” Craig said.
Community Living is working with the Ministry of Community and Social Services to house six people at the site. Moreland said one person has physical challenges, another is about 25 years old and currently living in a nursing home.