Emergency Community Support Fund

Rob: I’m speaking with Bill Fischer from the Banff Canmore community foundation. How’s it going today?

Bill: We’re doing really well. We’re very, very busy, Rob. A lot of emergency grant making and also some emergency fundraising to fund a whole host of initiatives.

Rob: It sounds like you’re doing that with multiple streams here. What can you tell us about this new Emergency Community Support Fund?

Bill: , It’s a collaboration between the Canadian Red Cross, the Community Foundations of Canada, and the United Way. They’re collaborating with the Government of Canada to flow these emergency community support funds right across the country .

Rob: How much grant money will be distributed locally through this?

Bill: Locally, we’ve been allocated $75,000 and that’s to address COVID-19 impacts on vulnerable populations in the Bow Valley.

Rob: Who would be eligible for this kind of funding?

Bill: There’s a lot of frontline organizations and not-for-profits and registered charities that have been doing just wonderful work over the past two or three months in terms of dealing with so many different issues. The one criteria that we have to work with as a Community Foundation is that these organizations need to either be a registered charity or work with a registered charity, or in some cases a municipality, to advanced their particular program.

Rob: So what is that website where people can find out more details on this Emergency Community Support Fund?

Bill: They can go to the Banff Canmore Community Foundation website. We have a review committee that looks at these applications every week, and in many cases we are able to make a decision right the same day.

Rob: The last time we had you on the show it was with Donna from Canmore Rotary and Cathy from the Wim & Nancy Pauw Foundation. We were talking about the, collaborative Bow Valley Emergency Grants Program that you launched. How has that been going so far?

Bill: It’s been very popular. Grant applications come in every week. We’re still in operation. To date, we’ve distributed over $57,000 for multiple projects right across the entire Bow Valley. Everything from funding some hospital scrubs for the staff work at the Mineral Springs Hospital so that they don’t need to bring their clothing back to their own home. We’ve funded a lot of organizations that are involved with food security in the Valley. We’ve funded the Filipino Community Association. We’ve done meal deliveries and preparations with organizations that are working with small businesses.

One of the interesting projects we funded was a transportation service for residents who need to get into a Calgary, perhaps for cancer treatment or a dialysis session. The volunteers that used to do that are vulnerable themselves. So we funded an alternate way for these seniors and other people to be able to get to their medical appointments.

We’ve done some training for young people to help them be able to coach and counsel people through some of the mental health challenges that are likely going to crop up. Another interesting project we helped fund was for people, often new Canadians or Temporary Foreign Workers, or other folks that really need a hand up right now in terms of improving their language skills while they’re laid off. There’s an organization through the Bow Valley Settlement Services that are providing laptops and tablet computers. They can borrow them from this source, and then they can bone up on their their English language skills and other areas of of improvement that they really need.

Rob: Your website has more details on that as well?

Bill: That’s right. We continue to encourage people to put forward applications. We’re not out of the woods yet on this. I just wanted to thank all the donors that have also contributed either to our fund or has helped with the Canmore Rotary Charitable Foundation’s fundraising as well.  It’s been a big boost to us and it’s hopefully it’s making a difference in the Bow Valley.