Mount cafe named as the Fulcrum Cafe
Anonymous $300K donation to Food Centre provided through Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough to new food centre
A public foundation is giving nearly $107,000 to 26 local charities to continue their efforts of strengthening community connections.
The Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough
(CFGP) awarded $106,800 in Vital Community grants to charities working in five areas.
Each charity is focused on strengthening community connections, which was identified as a top priority by community members involved in Vital Conversations.
More than 750 people from across the city and county took part in Vital Conversations, a foundation initiative that took place in the fall of 2017.
Groups created lists of 10 local priorities and “strengthening community connections” was number one.
The foundation received about 60 applications for the funding, which is up 40 per cent compared to last year. Seventeen local charities also applied for a grant for the first time.
“Clearly, we wish we had more and we could have fulfilled more of them,” said John Good, CFPG executive director.
Grants range in size between $1,000 and $5,000.
Funds were allocated to organizations that are working to strengthening community connections. Groups include initiatives that are creating welcoming spaces for kids and youth, addressing root causes of marginalization, building relationships for reconciliation, reducing isolation for seniors, and making new connections.
The announcement of the grant recipients took place Thursday at the newly named café at The Mount Community Centre. The centre on Monaghan Road is located in the former home of the Sisters of St. Joseph.
The Fulcrum Café is part of The Mount’s Food Centre, which includes a bakery, commercial kitchen and dishwashing room.
Mount staff invited the CFGP to name the café, following a $300,000 grant from the foundation to the Food Centre on behalf of an anonymous donor.
In many ways, Fulcrum is a metaphor for the work the foundation does in the community, Good said.
“There’s also the community building work that that space is going to do,” he added, mentioning food prep training and addressing food security.
Andi van Koeverden, The Mount’s strategic advancement director, said the moniker is fitting, because the café is the heart of The Mount, much like a kitchen is the heart of a home.
“The fulcrum fits what’s going on in the heart of our home,” she said.
The café seats 21 guests and serves sandwiches, soups, salads, and sweet treats. It’s open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Van Koeverden said The Mount is grateful for the foundation’s continued support.
“And we are certainly most grateful to the anonymous donor who gifted to us $300,000 in December, and made the miracle on Monaghan come true,” she said.
The Mount is the largest project CFGP has invested throughout its nearly decade in existence. The foundation has been both a lender and granter to the community centre, contributing more than $500,000 in grants to date.
CFGP works with community builders to help address some of the area’s greatest needs by assisting them in directing their donations. It also creates endowment funds.