The Lloydminster and District United Way presented 11 cheques of over $3,600 to local non-profits. The funding comes from a Government of Alberta donation matching program.
“It feels great,” United Way President Alex Wilson says. “Not only are we supporting all these groups we have requesting money, but also being able to spread it across so many different groups that are affecting so many different people. We spread it across as many groups as evenly as we could, we figured that would be a really great way to benefit the community.”
Organizations who received funding include LABIS, the Bea Fisher Centre, the Lloydminster Region Health Foundation, Thorpe Recovery Centre and Residents in Recovery.
Kim Crockett, marketing and business development coordinator for Bea Fisher, says their money received in the first round of the federal Emergency Community Support Fund went towards preparing the centre for the pandemic. The centre was able to purchase more PPE and cleaning equipment to keep their staff and residents safe.
He says the new funding has been allocated to buying some new technology for their care homes.
“It’s going to keep the individuals in our care homes stay better connected with one another during the winter months when they can’t get out as much. It’s also going to help with getting our managers some technology that allows them to work a little more remotely.”
Crockett says they are looking into different solutions for fundraisers and have launched a 50/50 raffle which is expected to wrap up by the new year.
Residents in Recovery Executive Director Tyler Lorenz says it’s been a tough year as they haven’t been able to hold their usual fundraisers and other sources of income haven’t come out yet.
“A lot of the COVID money that really sustained us over the summer period is starting to dry up and things have been pretty tight. We are still waiting on our funding from the Saskatchewan government which is coming from Sask Health and they’re a little bit busy with COVID so that’s all been delayed. This will help enormously.”
Lorenz notes the funding will go towards the organization’s family programming.
“We’re looking at expanding our women’s residency program because we have so much demand. We really want to get our family program off and running so that mothers can have children in the home with them and still be supported by us.”
Wilson says organizations should expect more money to come their way as just under $45,000 in the second round of federal funding has yet to be distributed. Over $300,000 has been given out in 2020.