The Community Foundation for Kingston and Area (CFKA) donated $163,235 to its local community.
The Community Foundation for Kingston and Area (CFKA) announced on May 17 it will award funds to 17 local charities through its Spring Community Grants program. The initiatives are expected to impact over 40,000 individuals, including 24,494 youth.
Q Camps, an athletic and recreation program run by Queen’s University, will be receiving $3,233 to cover the registration cost of 30 youth, ages five to 18, to participate in a summer day camp.
“This project will support children and youth in our community to have the benefits of physical activity and social interaction with peers, with the included element of positive role models through trained staff of Queen’s University students and Gaels student-athletes,” Sarah Utting, Q Camps coordinator (youth programs and community engagement), said in a statement to The Journal.
The grant allows equity-deserving youth the ability to attend a camp they otherwise would have had challenges accessing.
“Funds from CFKA and a network of donors that believe in the work, and the opportunity help us consider the requests from families and organizations where finances to register are a barrier,” Utting said.
Kingston Community Health Centre (KCHC)’s food distribution warehouse, which addresses local food insecurity, was awarded $10,357. This will provide support to 3,000 residents.
“This funding truly does change lives,” said, Director of Community Health at KCHC Wendy Vuvk in an interview with The Journal. “If we’re able to help one family better [their] nutrition then that’s worthwhile—through these partnerships and this funding we are able to help so many.”
As part of a separate initiative, KCHC’s Serve & Return program was granted $16,686 to support parents learning the impacts traumatic events in childhood can have on adolescent behaviour. Queen’s students volunteer with Serve & Return, receiving training on how to help parents in need.
“My hope is that as Queen’s students interact with our staff, clients, and patients they will really benefit from this learning […] that they can then take back to their peers and their learning groups,” Vuvk said.
Funding for the Spring Community Grants program is established by the foundation’s endowment funds, having raised $25.7 million as of March 3. The fund is created through individual, family, and organizational donations. Kingston best serves its community members through philanthropy, explained CFKA Executive Director of Community Stacy Kelly.
CFKA has an all-inclusive approach to community support, Kelly explained. They allocate funding to charities supporting equity-deserving groups and contribute to Truth and Reconciliation through grants to Indigenous-focused initiatives, such as the Frontenac County School’s Museum Garden project.
“[The school is] going to be developing an Indigenous component of the garden using heritage seeds from a local Indigenous organization,” Kelly said.
CFKA’s fall Community Grants will be announced at the end of the year.
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