On Friday, MPP Jeff Burch and Welland Vice Mayor Leo Van Vliet met with Community Support Services of Niagara to recognize the contributions of the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s $71,300 Resilient Communities Fund on the Grocery Delivery Program. The grant has permitted CSSN to serve more than 100 unique clients and complete 800 grocery deliveries between April 2022 and January 2023.
“I am very pleased to recognize this Trillium grant,” said Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch. “I shudder to think about what could have happened to the many seniors and other mobility- challenged people in my riding who simply could not have obtained food during pandemic lockdowns had it not been for Community Support Services of Niagara and its grocery delivery program. The service continues to go such a long way toward helping people remain independent and healthy in their own homes.”
The grant allowed CSSN to build a strong foundation for the program ensuring its sustainability post-covid. CSSN has successfully met the increased demand for service while developing and implementing volunteer recruitment campaigns also working to solidify partnerships with community agencies and grocery providers ensuring the program could grow. Thanks to the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s $71,300 grant, CSSN will be able to continue delivering the grocery program to seniors and adults with disabilities across the Niagara Region.
“The impact of this Ontario Trillium Foundation grant cannot be undervalued,” said Carolyn Askeland, Executive Director of Community Support Services of Niagara (CSSN). “It has allowed CSSN to assist seniors and adults with disabilities maintain health and well-being by supporting them in accessing nutritional food. Often clients do not have the social supports to assist them in accessing groceries and/or have health and mobility issues that impede their ability to do it independently.”
Carolyn continued to say, “This grant made it possible for CSSN to reinvent and expand the Grocery Delivery Program to ensure long-term sustainability and success for those we serve.” We would also like to “congratulate the Ontario Trillium Foundation on 40 years of providing grants and creating healthy and vibrant communities across Ontario.”
If you would like information about this program and other programs available for seniors and adults with disabilities allowing them to live independently in their own homes, please visit the website at: https://happyinmyhome.ca/services/
The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), an agency of the Government of Ontario and one of Canada’s largest granting foundations, is celebrating 40 years of Ontario grantmaking and community impact. Last year, OTF invested $209M in 2,042 community projects and partnerships, including funding for the Ontario government’s Community Futures Fund. Visit the otf.ca to learn more.
