Five Tri-City groups will split $123,774 in federal grants for their seniors’ projects.
The money, which was announced this week by Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam Liberal MP Ron McKinnon, is part of the Canadian government’s New Horizons for Seniors Program, which aims to keep seniors active in their communities.
The Greyhounds Masters Track and Field Club will get $24,500 for new gear and a website redesign while the RJ Kent Housing Society will receive $24,883 for furniture and technology at the housing complex it runs on Shaughnessy Street in Port Coquitlam.
The Tri-City Iranian Cultural Society scored $24,480 for seniors’ classes and trips — as well as intergenerational projects — and the Hawthorne Seniors Care Centre Community won $24,911 for its Bodies, Brains and Brunch Club, which will install storage cabinets, replace roof tiles and buy furniture and equipment for activities at the south PoCo facility.
And the Royal Canadian Legion branch 133 will get $25,000 to renovate the Weston Room, make the front door accessible and purchase a new glass washer.
In a news release, McKinnon said all five applicants to the New Horizons program received funding.
“Our recent support of $24,883 means our project of providing workshops and programs for seniors in community engagement, volunteerism, and involvement — with the goal to reduce social isolation and loneliness faced by aged persons — will now be able to proceed,” added RJ Kent’s Marg Gordon, in the release.
“The availability of a place for seniors to meet, network, socialize and share their days together helps this community immensely with curtailing the issue of isolation in our senior population,” said Legion branch spokesperson Bev Moudatsos.
