OLDS — The Olds United Church has disbursed $4,200 from the Chic and Billie Miller Endowment Fund for projects to improve the community.
Grants were disbursed on June 9 to five groups: $1,000 to the Mountain View Museum & Archives, $200 to the Threads of Kindness quilting group, $1,000 to Mountain View Moccasin House Society, $500 to Olds Curling Club and $1,500 to the Olds Health Care Fundraising Committee (OHCFC).
Olds United Church Rev. Tammy Allan said this marks the 15th year grants have been given out from the endowment, set up via the United Church of Canada.
Chic Miller was a successful Olds businessman. Upon his death in 2005, he left a legacy that was deposited at the United Church Foundation in Toronto.
Applicants are evaluated on community involvement and benefits, innovative and/or unique attributes, if the project will benefit more than one sector of the community, and if the applicants have obtained other financial support for the project.
Allan issued cheques to representatives of three of the organizations. Representatives of Mountain View Moccasin House Society and OHCFC were unable to attend the ceremony, held in the United Church.
Great feeling
“It’s a great feeling to be able to give away money. It’s not often we get to do that," Allan said.
She said last year, due to pandemic restrictions, almost nobody was undertaking projects so only one organization applied for money from the endowment fund. Money left over was rolled into this year’s disbursement.
“We have almost twice what we would normally have this year,” Allan said.
“This year we had five groups that applied and all five are receiving money. Some, everything they asked for; some a significant amount. We didn’t have to say ‘no’ to anyone.”
Gail McDonald and Verna Ward of Threads of Kindness said they plan to use the money their club received to buy supplies.
They said last year, they gave away about 82 quilts to various groups and organizations, mostly in Olds and area, but some as far away as Ronald McDonald House in Red Deer.
Last year, members of the society were forced to work from home much of the time, due to the pandemic.
So far this year, they’ve given out about 14 quilts.
Olds Curling Club secretary Jennifer Wood said her club plans to use the money it received to host some fun events with an eye to celebrating a return to the ice and encouraging more people to join the organization.
“Once winter hits we’re hoping to curl again and we’re hoping to maybe have some different sort of fun with it — glow curling or just some fun social things,” she said.
Education centre
Donna Erdman, chair of Olds Historical Society and Mountain View Museum & Archives, along with program coordinator Chantal Marchildon said their cheque will help fund improvements to their new education centre which is being created in what used to be a garage adjacent to the museum.
That project has been underway for the past year or so.
They said the centre will offer a wide variety of classes for everyone, from senior to school kids.
“And then we’re hoping to just have some general classes for people who just want to come in and do some crafty, pioneer fun,” Marchildon said.
“(It’ll be) a meeting space for people. Just a place that is offering things that you can’t find anywhere else in the community,” Erdman said.
"This is (for) cupboards and countertops,” Erdman said as she held up the cheque. “It doesn’t sound glamourous but it’s really, really important,” she added to some laughter.
Allan said the Olds Health Care Fundraising Committee had asked for a couple of pieces of equipment, one of which is a very specialized camera that takes photos behind a person’s eyeball.
“I’ve seen this kind of camera at work because my daughter gets these pictures taken quite regularly and it’s really important," she said. “It means it saves people trips to bigger centres.”
The grant to Mountain View Moccasin House Society is to help cover the cost for a video that is being created this year for National Indigenous Peoples Day.
It highlights and celebrates the teachings and cultures of Metis, Indigenous and Inuit people. It also includes greetings from various dignitaries and closes with a prayer spoken by Allan.
“The focus of it is education,” Allan said. “It’s video of dancing, it’s video of cultural practices and stories. It’s video of elders telling stories and doing teachings.”
The video will be available for viewing not only during National Indigenous Peoples Day but long afterward. The idea is for it to serve as an educational tool for students and people of all ages and backgrounds.
