The Nu2U Community Thrift Store gave out $15,487 to six community organizations this month, representing profits from the community thrift store's last six months of operations.
Recipients were: the Olds and District Hospice Society, $7,000; Community Learning Campus, $2,000; Olds and Area Boys and Girls Club, $2,000; Mountain View Communities Adult Learning Society, $2,080; Peaks to Prairies Primary Care Network, $1,407; and Olds Meals On Wheels, $1,000.
Representatives of four of those six entities were able to be at Nu2U in person to receive their cheques, outline what they plan to use the money for, and to express their appreciation to Nu2U volunteers.
Charlene Schramm, treasurer of the Olds and District Hospice Society (ODHS), was the first to receive a cheque.
Schramm said the society plans to use the money to cover its office rent, insurance, telephone and Internet expenses.
"What we decided to do early on, knowing that Nu2U supports lots of really good projects in the community, was that we would only ask them for money that we cannot get from FCSS (Family and Community Support Services)," Schramm said.
"A lot of people don't really want to donate for expenses. They'd rather that money go right to our suites or to our programs. So we thought every year we're going to ask Nu2U to help us with just that expense," she added. "And so every year you guys come through big time and do that and we so appreciate it."
Schramm said since ODHS began it has worked with more than 232 families.
She urged anyone in the community who may eventually need their help in a loved one's end of life journey to "please plug into us early so that we can stay back if they don't need us, but then everything's in place if and when they do."
Right now, she said, the ODHS suites are full and society members are working with people who are remaining in their homes.
Community Learning Campus (CLC) fitness and recreation supervisor Brittany Ehmann noted that a couple of years ago, the CLC set up its outdoor centre. Its goal is to provide affordable and accessible programming to enable Olds and area youth and adults to be active.
"Often people have to go out of our kind of immediate area to access a lot of that programming and equipment. We wanted to keep them -- if possible -- local and allow them to have an active, healthy lifestyle in our area. So rentals is part of that," Ehmann said.
"We really are focusing on physical literacy in non-traditional sport and activity; so things like snowshoeing and cross-country skiing and all those good things that sometimes our youth don't have access to," she added. "With the outdoor centre, we can give those opportunities in our community through our programming.
"So we're really grateful to have this funding, because our outdoor centre is 100 per cent grant-funded. Everything that we get through our rentals we reinvest into equipment and/or programming. This will help us to get that equipment and then therefore, allow us to offer that programming moving forward," Ehmann said.
"It allows us to continue on with what we're doing with our outdoor activities and programming and I think you'll see the impact as we continue to grow in our community in getting those youth out and active."
Peaks to Prairies Primary Care Network exercise specialist Greg Stopanski noted he started up a walking group in Olds about a year and a half ago and it's been very successful; so much so it has grown from four people to 70, with about 25 to 30 showing up regularly.
He started up a similar walking group in Sundre.
"With the grant, it helps us out to purchase some walking sticks that help out with balance, stability. Anybody who has knee, back or hip pain, it actually gives them more support and just gives them 90 per cent more use of their muscles," he said.
"The poles that we had before are just running out and everybody's using them, so we just need a little more support to have that access for our walkers."
Jan Skaluba is the volunteer manager/team support for the Mountain View Communities Adult Learning Society (MVCAL). It promotes literacy throughout the county and helps newcomers learn English.
"We get a tremendous amount of support throughout the county. We operate strictly on grants. Much like the hospice society we are a bottomless pit, and if we can get enough money scrounged together and there's a need, we team that up with some kind of educational program in the county," Skaluba said.
"This particular money will go right towards our learn English classes. We're going to try to offer two this next year, using grant money from Nu2U, so thank you so much, guys."
During an interview with the Albertan, Barb Adair, the manager of Nu2U, said she and the Nu2U volunteers are pleased to be able to provide those grants.
"It feels really good, because the volunteers work so hard; I work hard too, so it's very rewarding," she said. "That's our gift at the end of the day is to give back, right?"
Representatives of Olds Meals On Wheels and the Olds and Area Boys and Girls Club were unavailable for comment.
