Dufferin Community Foundation presents 2021 Booster Grants to local charities

By Paula Brown 

The Dufferin Community Foundation (DCF) has provided a needed boost in funding to three charities benefiting Dufferin County residents with the presentation of their 2021 Booster Grants. 

The local foundation presented Hospice Dufferin, Caledon Meals on Wheels, and Easter Seals each with a $1,500 cheque, outside the Orangeville Courthouse on October 20.

The funds from the grant program, which totalled $4,500, are sponsored by local businesspeople and are distributed to support existing projects with proven success or new projects that show best practices in the field. 

“We are grateful to Hospice Dufferin, Easter Seals and Caledon Meal on Wheels for the crucial support that they provide to families, children and individuals in Dufferin County,” said Gord Gallaugher, president of DFC. “Any boost that they get from these grants is multiplied many times over in terms of the impact on people's lives.” 

Dufferin Hospice will be using the funds to support the purchase of audio-visual equipment, which will allow them to design a series of online or DVD sessions for people experiencing bereavement. The series will provide knowledge and skills around the grief journey as well as strategies to help people cope.

The pilot project, Bereavement 101, will reach approximately 165 local clients each year and may be rolled out to 24 other hospices in the Central Region of Ontario, according to a recent press release from the DCF. 

Caledon Meals on Wheels is applying the awarded funds to their subsidized meal and grocery program. The program aids seniors and people with disabilities living in Caledon, Orangeville and surrounding Dufferin County facing financial challenges by giving hot meals, frozen meals, or grocery items at partially or fully subsidized rates, through the Lord Dufferin Centre. 100 per cent of the proceeds will go to subsidizing food costs for clients until March 31, 2022. 

Easter Seals is allocating the funding to in-home equipment for children and youth with physical disabilities in Dufferin County, who have been isolated and underserved as a result of the pandemic. Equipment is focused of mobility and safety, dignity, and social inclusion. 

There are 12 families in Dufferin County who have requested the support, according to the DCF's press release.

This year, DFC marked the fourth year of providing additional funding aid to local non-profits with the Booster Grants program.