New Horizons for Seniors brings $232,000 to the Townships

Although not able to do so in person due to physical distancing rules, Compton-Stanstead MP and Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau was still able to make a videoconference announcement last week of over $ 232,000 for community projects specifically dedicated to seniors in the region.
The Bulwer Golden Age Club of East Angus, the Community Center of St-Gérard, the North Hatley Curling Club, the Fraternity of the Golden Age of Saint-Isidore, the Golden Age Club of Chartierville, the Club FADOQ of Sawyerville, the Haut-Saint-François Senior Citizens Table, the Lennoxville Curling Club, the Beaulieu Farmers Circle, as well as the Coaticook and Rock Forest Farmers Circles will all benefit from the funding, in amounts ranging from $4,000 to $25,000 each, depending on the project.
“The New Horizons for Seniors Program will allow us to renovate our community center, a project that was dear to our seniors and that will allow us to offer a friendlier place that is adapted to their needs,” said Mayor Gérard Duteau of the municipality of Saint-Hérménégilde.
With more than a dozen organizations receiving funding, each will be able to use the money in their own way support seniors more broadly over the whole region. Through this program, the federal government hopes to increase the overall well-being and independence of seniors so that they stay active and remain in touch with each other.
“This money is making a real difference for our seniors,” Bibeau said. “The range of services and activities offered by our local organizations is impressive. In this period of pandemic, it is more important than ever to maintain funding for projects that come from the community.”
Recognizing that services available now might be different than they were at the time the project application was made, organizations have been given leave to use their funding to provide immediate and essential support to seniors impacted by COVID-19, regardless of the nature of the approved projects.”
“Because seniors are staying safe by isolating at home, we also need to provide new kinds of help,” said the federal Minister of Seniors, Deb Schulte. “We’ve provided flexibility for previously approved projects to be modified to meet seniors’ needs during this unprecedented public health crisis.”
Funding recipients who will not or cannot provide programs or services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic will be given more time to conclude their projects. Instead of the usual 12-month period, organizations now have up to two years to finish their projects.

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