Cataraqui-Kingston Rotary Club 2021 Fall Community Service Grants
Congratulations to these grant recipients:
Loughborough Public School - $500 for a Perennial Food Forest
This was our first School-Based Mini-Grant and it was awarded to the Grade 7 Challenge North Class and Grace Foodbank Garden led by Master Gardener and Teacher Alan Macdonald. The goal of this group is to plant twenty-two fruit trees that will help to improve food security in their community by increasing the availability of affordable fresh fruit for those with limited income. The students will learn more about environmentally friendly ways of growing food and producing a local supply of fruit with a carbon neutral or negative footprint. The Mini-Grant will help fund the purchase of the fruit trees.
Kingston Interval House - $2500 for New Beds for the KIH Emergency Shelter and Second Stage Housing Facility
As part of a global movement that seeks to ensure the human rights of all women, KIH serves women and their children in the Kingston area who have experienced the impact of domestic abuse and gender-based violence. This Community Service Grant will enable them to replace old, wobbly, and unsafe wooden bed frames with new metal bed frames that would be a more sturdy and safer option. These new beds for the women, children, and youth who access KIH facilities are expected to have a positive impact on their health and recovery as they will help to create a safer, more comfortable, and healthier environment. KIH estimates that 50 to 100 women, children, and youth will benefit from this initiative.
The Mess Open Arts Studio – $3100 for Flooring to Update the Washrooms
The Mess Studio is a unique community of diversity and inclusion for people living with physical and mental health issues, poverty, addictions and loneliness. New immigrants, retirees, and people with exceptionalities are all welcomed to experience opportunities for healthy social engagement and empowerment through art. Given the need for heightened cleaning and sanitizing due to the pandemic, renovating the flaking cement floors became a necessity. With the funds received from the C-K Rotary Club, new vinyl waterproof tiles covering approximately 385 sq ft will be installed in the men’s and women’s washrooms. The improvement is expected to motivate clients to assist in the care and clean up of the studio, allowing them to feel like a valued contributing community member.
Turtles Kingston - $2422.80 for Turtle Nest Protection
Through its attempt to conserve the Kingston turtle population, Turtles Kingston provides resources and information to all individuals interested in learning about turtles and conserving the turtle population consisting of five species, all of which are at risk! Protecting turtle nests and eggs from predators is critical in increasing the survival rate of the endangered turtle population. With their Community Service Grant fro C-K Rotary, Turtles Kingston will purchase nest protection materials, turtle crossing lawn signs, and informational cards for the nest protectors. The turtles will benefit most from the program, but participating community members will also benefit through the satisfaction of helping turtles to survive and also from watching the turtle hatchlings emerge.
Autism Network LAC - $980 for Autism Sensory Support Kits
The mission of Autism Network LAC, a volunteer based charitable organization, is to provide individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder the opportunity to connect and be a part of their community in a fulfilling and productive way, providing them with an equal opportunity to achieve their fullest potential in life. This grant will address the need to support students with sensory processing disorders by providing them with accommodation equipment to be used in public schools in the Napanee/Kingston areas. Fourteen “Sensory Support Kits” will be purchased and placed in local schools with a goal of eventually providing every school in these areas with at least one kit in the next two years. Each kit contains a variety of materials designed to reduce the effects of overstimulation that is often experienced in crowded situations.