Georgetown Rural Redefined & Regional Wellness Grants
By Francine St.Amand
JOE GEE, of Carlingford, explained that the Georgetown Conference held in PEI on October 3-5 was an event specifically designed to provide a space for “DOERS” from the four Atlantic Provinces to share and learn from one another’s experiences. Joe talked about how he, like so many people, had an idea that he did nothing with for years – until this year. He decided to act on his idea and organized the Tomlinson Lake Hike to Freedom this fall. He admitted that he didn’t know why it took him so long to actually do something with an interest he had been researching and nurturing in his mind for the past several years. The hike, which was held on Sept 29 of this year, was a great success and within the week Joe was at the Georgetown Conference. When a slated speaker did not show up, Joe got to share his idea as an impromptu speaker at a session titled, “Signature Events”. The feedback he got from conference participants was extremely positive and affirmed that he was on right on track, on so many levels, with this concept. Joe is committed to making the hike in the fall of 2014 even more successful and this time, he will have a working group/committee to help him out.
LUKE SINSTADT shared that since coming back from the conference he feels more interested and confident in being involved to help out the Village. He said that he considers Perth-Andover his village too, even though he lives in California Settlement. Luke listed the many ways in which he participates and ‘uses’ the villages services and amenities. His participation is pretty much the same as everyone else except he sleeps outside the village limits.
“How will I support the Village? If the Village decided to organize a project for people to help clean up the village, I could pick up litter, rake leaves, dig some ground for gardens and I could help serve coffee and donuts to the volunteers. It would be a way that I could feel INCLUDED in doing something important. I want to help make things better and bring pride back to our community. And I hope you do too.”
FRANCINE ST.AMAND also of California Settlement. The Georgetown Conference was confidence booster for me. It was reassuring for me to hear so many people talk about how they were practically ‘outcasted’ in their own communities when trying to initiate something new. Reassuring, in the sense I now know it’s common for communities to reject those who try to actually DO something positive, constructive or different. Over the past year, I personally have felt the sting of what I perceive to be an attitude of indifference, discouragement, minimizing and discrediting. Since Georgetown, I refuse to waste energy trying to understand and process my feelings in the face of this negativity. Consequently, I have more energy to maintain my focus and generate even more enthusiasm and creativity to projects I undertake.” The creation of the Vigil Aunties grassroots group and the Community Conversations Initiative are two approaches which I have experimented with in the past year – as a means of getting people together to develop connectedness and share useful information relevant to the revitalization of Perth-Andover.
At both presentations on Oct 24 and Nov 28 attendees were given a simple handout as a reflection piece to take home. The handout simply contained two statements which I believe to be the critical take-home messages of the Georgetown Conference:
VALUES WHICH I WANT OUR COMMUNITY TO BE KNOWN FOR:
THINGS I WILL DO TO HELP MOVE MY COMMUNITY FORWARD:
The second statement was clearly the overriding theme of the conference and Joe reiterated this in his talk about his own experience- when he shifted his Hike idea from thinking mode to DOING.
Sheila Jans, from Madawaska ME who works as a Culture Development Consultant was a speaker that really struck
a chord with me. I’m not sure if she actually said this, but what I got from her presentation is, “A community that doesn’t identify its own values, doesn’t know where it’s going”. Sheila and I have been in communication since the conference. I would like to have her come to Perth-Andover to do a presentation about her work at some point. The demographics in Northeastern Maine are very much like ours and she has developed a unique approach in promoting that area. I am meeting with Sheila on Dec 1st and will bring back information from my meeting to share with the community in the New Year.
Sharing information about how to get ideas off the shelf is critical. And that’s why I invited Kathy Orser to attend and present her information at the event on Nov 28.
Kathy has been working in the ‘Wellness” field for several years and currently works as a Regional Wellness Consultant for the Department of Healthy and Inclusive Communities in the Woodstock office. Kathy is no stranger to rural challenges and issues, having lived and worked in Victoria and Carleton counties for most of her life. Kathy talked about the numerous grants available to the community and left a binder of information about specific grants available. I have the binder and will provide copies of the info to anyone who asks me for it. Kathy is also willing to return in the New Year for a more in-depth presentation/conversation.
Kathy works in the Wellness Branch of said department. Her phone number is 277-6024.
“The purpose of the Regional Wellness Grants program is to engage new and current partners to initiate or enhance community/regional efforts in wellness. The Wellness Branch will support wellness initiatives related to the four Strategy Pillars: mental fitness and resilience, healthy eating, physical activity and tobacco-free living.” So if your idea fits into one of these pillars, you need to get the application information to get your project started…or enhanced. Grants available through this are $3000 maximum.
Grants available through this branch cover everything from soup to nuts – so long as the project touches on 2 of the 4 pillars. Grant applicants need to be connected with an organization or group who have a bank account. The Village of Perth-Andover accesses this funding on a regular basis for various things including purchasing equipment for programs, etc… However, the branch welcomes applications from other groups who are interested in jump-starting special projects or supporting existing ones.
Kathy’s colleague, Kent Kuhn, works as a consultant in the Active Communities Branch. His phone number is 325-4729. Grants available through this branch are sports and recreation specific.
“The Community Development Grant Program seeks a broad portfolio of investments that are strategic and offer innovative solutions to problems of inactivity and low participation in sport and recreation. This program is also designed to support the effectiveness of organizations and foster stronger relationships through community capacity building using sport and recreation as the catalysts for this capacity development.”
Funding is also available through the Economic and Social Inclusion Network. The co-ordinator for this region is Asma Regragui. She can be reached at 392-5461. The start-up funding for the community garden in Andover was made available from this organization when Janet Williams was the coordinator.
As already mentioned, the plan is to have Kathy return to Perth-Andover to give more information about financial assistance for projects. Stay tuned! In the meantime, if you would like a copy of the binder’s content, you can reach me at 273-3980 or on facebook.
