Ontario government officials announced funding of more than $470,000 for six organizations in Thunder Bay to promote healthy living on Tuesday. The Healthy Communities Fund provided the funding and has spent an estimated $21.9 million on 369 organzations across Ontario since 2009.
Some area applicants receiving money include:
- Brass Bell Family Resource Centre Dorion; $144, 769
- The Children’s Centre Thunder Bay; $135, 200
- Faye Peterson Transition House; $27,300
- Little Lions Waldorf Daycare and Kindergarten; $16, 710
- Northwestern Ontario Women’s Centre; $32, 300
- Nishnawbe Aski Nation; $120,000.
"You can imagine not only the trauma to the women and children but to the staff as well," Brenda Monsma, counselling director for Faye Peterson Transition House. "Some of the staff have been there for 20 years or more so we have an invested interest in keeping our staff healthy and keeping that longevity going."
The funding will go toward healthy living through meditation and yoga, she added.
Monsma said the shelter house offers a safe place for abused women and children who generally arrive with just the clothing on their back, a victim of violence and accompanied by police.
Ontario’s Minister of Health Promotions Margarett Best said the funding targeted organizations that could network among themselves to promote healthy living within their communities.
"We looked at groups in community settings who were working at the grassroots level and able to collaborate with other groups," Best said. "Health promotion is a community effort. We all have to work together to improve the health of the people of Ontario."
Best said some of the programs will receive funding for one or two years depending on what was requested on their application.
WE-CAN, a wellness and exercise program for individuals with cancer, also received funding through the Healthy Communities fund.
Yvonne McConnell, diagnosed with breast cancer, participated in the WE-CAN program and said having a group to rely on helped her through her difficult time. A registered nurse at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, she said she saw the affects of cancer from two points of view.
"The one thing I knew when I started the program was that it was going to be really, really beneficial," McConnell said. "I know that it helps to be amongst your friends and people that are going through the same thing you are."
She said participants and staff in WE-CAN helped her to understand what she could and could not accomplish while going through chemotherapy.
