The Newmarket Seniors’ Meeting Place is getting a funding boost to its programming with $51,137 from the province through a grant.
The province is providing the funding through the Senior Active Living Centre Program. The funding is operational and the meeting place said it would help offset the cost of programs for the user. The funding is an annualized granting program, but the province boosted the dollars for it this year, giving the meeting place about $8,000 more than usual.
Newmarket-Aurora MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy visited the meeting palace June 26 to announce the funding. As Ontario Seniors Month comes to a close, Gallagher Murphy said she is glad the government is supporting seniors.
“Thanks to the overwhelming success of these programs in recent years, more seniors will be able to access vital community services than ever before,” she said. “It is crucial, as we know, for our communities to have really bustling hubs.”
The Seniors Active Living Centre (SALC) Program is an annualized one under the Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility to help fund about 300 established centres across the province. The province announced June 11 that funding in the program would increase so that centres would go up from about $42,700 each year to more than $50,000.
Newmarket Councillor Bob Kwapis expressed gratitude for the funding.
“These programs play a vital role in ensuring our seniors stay connected, engaged and supported all year long,” Kwapis said.
Newmarket Seniors’ Meeting Place supervisor of recreation programs Victoria Kendra said that besides helping subsidize programs, they also plan to use the program to help fund events for the 30th anniversary of the facility later this year in December.
Meeting place advisory board president Errol Platc said no funding is always welcome and they are delighted by the ongoing support.
“We have a wide range of programs,” he said. “You can always use more money. Like any other body, we’re always scrambling to try and find the funds that we need.”
