Two local non-profit groups and a Squamish elementary school this week received some of the more than $145,000 in grants handed out by the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation (WBF) for community initiatives in the Sea to Sky Corridor.
The Howe Sound Women's Centre Society, Squamish Hospital Foundation and Garibaldi Highlands Elementary School were among the 13 groups to have received money in a WBF fall grant allocation announced on Friday (Nov. 1).
The Howe Sound Women's Centre received $16,520 to go toward needed repairs at its Pearl's Place Transition Home in Squamish and Pearl's Safe Home in Pemberton.
Sheila Allen, the society's executive director, said the grant will help the society keep its two existing safe homes operating. "This money is to go toward physical repairs to the buildings. There's a small amount of funds for, I believe, some equipment that we need for the safe home [in Pemberton] and then some general repairs," she said.
Allen said society officials are still working to nail down an increase in operating funding from the provincial government for more safe-house beds for victims of domestic abuse in the Sea to Sky Corridor. The society, which has not received a funding increase since 2007, recently appealed for the hike after Pearl's Place had to refer a mother and baby seeking housing to facilities in the Lower Mainland.
Allen said society officials have "to assess what the needs and priorities are, and we're hoping to gather other community partners and do whatever we can to try to meet the needs." Allen also has set up a meeting with local MLA Jordan Sturdy to discuss the society's funding needs, she said.
"Probably, for us, [a funding increase] would mean a different facility because right now, our Squamish facility has three bedrooms with seven beds," she said.
In the WBF allocation, the Squamish Hospital Foundation received $12,200 for a Sim-Man 3G Patient Simulator that will help health-care professionals practice techniques and procedures without risk to patients, WBF officials said. Staff from Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton will be able to use the simulator to keep their training up to date, officials said.
As well, Garibaldi Highlands Elementary received $9,000 for three "smart boards" for its intermediate classes. Until now, GHE was the only K-7 school in Squamish that didn't have smart board technology, WBF officials said.
Nine groups in Whistler and Pemberton also received funding from the WBF. The largest grant, $35,000, went to the Pemberton BMX Society to purchase a new start gate, officials said.
The foundation also donated more than $25,000 to the Whistler Blackcomb Environmental Fund, which supports environmental projects in the corridor, matching Whistler Blackcomb employee donations to the fund.
The next WBF funding application deadline is April 1, 2014. For information, visit www.whistlerblackcombfoundation.com
