Cast your vote
Three Colchester County groups looking for Aviva Community Fund votes
Three Truro and area projects are seeking support in their bid for funding through the online Aviva Community Fund competition.
The latest Aviva Community Fund competition includes projects by three local organizations: Truro Homeless Outreach Society, North Shore Recreation Centre and Railyard Mountain Bike Park.
The initial round of voting runs until 6 p.m. on Oct. 19. Anyone registered at avivacommunityfund.org has 18 votes, which can be cast at any time. They can all go toward one project or they can be shared between projects.
Following are the local projects:
Truro Homeless Outreach Society
The Truro Homeless Outreach Society’s (THOS) ‘Recipe for Success’ is in the up to $50,000 category.
The program would help vulnerable people learn to cook, as well as teach them other life skills.
“We try to prepare people for living on their own but some fall back into old habits because they don’t have the life skills they need,” said Dwight Griffiths, administrative coordinator at the THOS. “A lot of people never learned the skills and some have been on the streets so long they’ve lost them.”
‘Recipe for Success’ would provide instruction in preparing quick and easy nutritious meals from scratch, while promoting a balanced diet. Food safety, shopping on a budget and other topics would also be included.
Classes would be three hours long, twice a week, and would be taught by a certified instructor in a licensed kitchen.
Participants would shop for the ingredients, prepare them with the instructor and eat the meal.
Other parts of the program would involve subjects such as social skills, decision making, employment skills, money management, stress management, community resources, health and law.
“It can make a world of difference to get those skills,” said Griffiths. “It can give people the confidence to do more.”
North Shore Recreation Centre
Volunteers with the North Shore Recreation Centre (NSRC) hope to receive money to cover the costs of upgrades to the canteen, dressing rooms and bathrooms in the 45-year-old building.
Their project is entered in the $50,000 to $100,000 category.
“The community support for the centre is great, but every community is saturated with fundraisers,” said Marilyn Roberts, a volunteer at the NSRC.
“The centre serves not just Tatamagouche, but the whole north shore. Even people who don’t use it know how important it is, and if we maintain it we ensure it lives on for us, our kids and our grandkids.”
The NSRC is used for sports, expos, dances, fitness, community meals, weddings, dinner theatres, Oktoberfest and other cultural events.
Roberts said dressing rooms that have showers and bathrooms need to be upgraded and those without these facilities need to have them installed. Because the girls’ dressing room is currently a small space with no bathroom or shower, the public bathroom across the hall must be used.
The canteen would benefit from an upgraded ventilation system.
“This is truly the centre of the community,” said Roberts. “It’s important to maintain it for the people of today and also for future generations.”
Railyard Mountain Bike Park
Truro’s Railyard Mountain Bike Park project is one of those in the 50,000 to $100,000 category.
Trails for mountain biking have been developed in the upper area of Victoria Park during the past few years and now there are plans to promote them to a wider audience.
“A lot of local people know about it but there’s a potential to market it to tourists and attract larger events,” said Alison Grant, business development officer for the town of Truro. “I needed an identity to market it as a destination so a working group explored brand, in consultation with the wider mountain biking community.”
The first phase would involve developing marketing material, erecting signage and professional photography. The estimated cost is $20,000 and it is hoped it can be implemented during the spring of 2018.
The next phase would involve adding washrooms to the upper portion of the park and developing a website.
Development of the mountain bike park would allow opportunities for partnership, such as bike rentals, guided rides and mountain biking events.
During the winter the trails could be used for fat bikes, crosscountry skiing and snowshoeing.