Woodstock City Council Gives Nearly $80,000 in Grants

Saturday, 20 April 2019 09:44

Over 20 organizations in the Friendly City will receive funds as part of the 2019 Community Grants Program.

WOODSTOCK - Woodstock City Council will hand out grants across the community, as part of the 2019 Community Grants Program.

This is the first installment of this year.

Mayor Trevor Birtch says the funds will be allocated to different community partners and organizations.

"This is the first installment for 2019 and we have items on the list being recommended for approval for, such as the Woodstock Dragon Boat Club which is hosted through Rotary and has youth programming. We also have the Rotary Music Festival, many of your listeners have children and grand-children that participate through schools to bring new music here in the Friendly City. A lot of great initiatives from Boy Scouts and the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Woodstock. We also have the grant for one of the partners in the community Easter Egg Hunt that'll be coming up soon, so the Calvary Church. There's other ones on the list, such as the Ontario Genealogical Society Oxford County Branch and the Oxford Historical Society. And we also get into theatre, such as Woodstock Theatre and the K2K Productions through Youth Unlimited Productions, so all in all, it is always a great time at council when we're able to give back some of these proceeds to all of these great community partners who are trying to improve the quality of life for everybody in the Friendly City."

Mayor Birtch says the money will be going towards improving or supporting some of the programs.

"For many of these, it is to help with new program offerings or expansions to the existing programs. So many of these we see each year, the attendance continues to grow and more volunteers coming on board and of course with that comes a little bit of added financial pressure, so being able to use these proceeds to help make the best of all of these non-profits and community partners is a great thing for everybody."

The Community Grants Advisory Committee met earlier this month to review the applications for the first installment of 2019.

The money will be handed out to 22 organizations in the community, totalling up to $79,500.