The Active Lifestyle Centre - Grey Bruce, located on 3rd Avenue East in Owen Sound (image via Google Maps)
Five seniors centres in Grey Bruce have received funding from the provincial government totalling more than $236,000.
The Active Lifestyles Centre Grey-Bruce, located at 1852 3rd Ave. E. in Owen Sound, received a $55,000 Seniors Community Grant from the Ontario government.
George Walton, chair of the centre’s board, says the money will go toward several areas, including staffing, planning trips and renting space for programs.
Yearly membership prices are $15 and, thanks to the grant money, they will stay the same.
“I have been a board member and now chair of the board over the last five years; those fees have been the same,” Walton says. “I know some places that charge double or triple that amount for a membership.”
The Active Lifestyles Centre Grey-Bruce runs roughly 23 programs from Monday to Friday for seniors, including cards, dancing, crafts and other activities. It has more than 400 paid members.
Walton says anyone can sign up as a member, but those under 55 do not have voting rights at the annual general meeting.
He added that this is all made possible by the grant money and his board. “We have a strong base of good board members who are volunteers, and we do our best to make sure everything runs smoothly and is affordable.”
The other four local recipients are the Town of South Bruce Peninsula ($56,534), the Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula ($57,640), the Town of Hanover ($50,166) and the Hanover Public Library ($17,542).
“Supporting our Seniors Active Living Centres is an extremely important part of keeping our communities healthy, and I’m proud that we were able to step up and keep these programs thriving,” Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Paul Vickers says.
This year, Ontario is investing a record amount of close to $23 million to support 416 Seniors Active Living Centre (SALC) programs across the province, including 97 new ones.