Seniors centre wants reason for funding rejection
City officials will be working with members of the Centre for Seniors Information to help it find funding.
Jennifer Casorso, the city’s community and social-development supervisor, said she has sent a letter to executive director Brenda Prevost following a decision by council to reject an application from the centre for funding.
Prevost said she had applied for a $50,000 grant from the city under its service-agreement program, money she said is needed to provide some stability for the organization while it shores up donations.
With a new activity centre open in Brocklehurst and a membership of about 400 seniors, Prevost said the grant would have provided something to rely on as she approached corporations and other organizations for sponsorship.
“It’s going to take some time to build up awareness of this and time to add to our revenue,” Prevost said, “and I thought the city would see the value in what we [seniors] contribute to our community.”
Casorso said the timing was wrong for the application, which came in after the city had completed its budgeting process for the next fiscal year.
She added it would have been better if the centre had worked with the city when it was developing, designing and building its new facility so city staff could see “how it relates to the rest of our recreational facilities.”
Prevost hopes to attend council with other seniors in coming weeks to ask why the application was rejected.
“Because we do as much as the next organization.”
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