Provincial grant allows Rural 60 centre to expand

The screech of a circular saw gnashing its way through a two-by-four isn’t exactly music to the ears of the quilting crowd.

In Kakabeka Falls, it was proving to be a bit of problem at the rapidly expanding Rural 60 Seniors Centre, an organization that took over an abandoned elementary school and then quickly outgrew it as their membership skyrocketed from 75 to 265.

Cue the provincial government and a pair of grants totalling $170,000 that allowed them to build a 187 square metre addition to the existing building, freeing up space for other senior programs and activities.

Project manager Bob McCluskey, who also serves on the centre’s board of directors, said they were simply running out of room.

"We just needed the space to put on programs and so on. Of course the original building was a school, and it had no dust barriers or noise or odour barriers. We couldn’t operate our machines or anything like that with audible noise because it went through the building."

|The Trillium Foundation chipped in $150,000 toward the $220,000 project and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation added another $20,000.

McCluskey said changing demographics forced the board of the 25-year-old centre to expand.

"I think one of the big reasons is we are the only senior centre out in the rural area," McCluskey said. "I think a lot the seniors want to stay in the rural area, so that’s why they came. "I think, too, that with retirement at such a young age today, rather than the old age of 65 or 70, that was part of the reason for the growth here.
"Plus what we offered here was a big part of it."

More than 65 people were on hand on Wednesday for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which brought out the likes of MP John Rafferty (NDP, Thunder Bay-Rainy River) and provincial representative Bill Mauro (Lib., Thunder Bay-Atikokan).

Mauro, when asked why this is an example of taxpayer’s money well spent, said it’s because the Rural 60 Plus Centre helps brings the community together.

"When you can support volunteer organizations that do such great work in their community and provide a whole broad range of services that sometimes you’re not aware of, it’s always one of my favourite things to do," Mauro said. "Given the economic circumstances that we’re in, I think it’s a fair question. We recognize the value of supporting charitable organizations and non-profit organizations, which is what Trillium does."

Many of the programs are offered to all ages and the centre is available for use by other community groups.