Three charities receive funding for programs that address poverty in Muskoka

Three Muskoka charitable organizations are the first recipients of grants from Muskoka Community Foundation’s Smart & Caring Muskoka Fund. District Chair, John Klinck presented cheques for $ 1,000.00 each to the Muskoka Student Nutrition Program, the Table Soup Kitchen Foundation and YWCA Muskoka on Friday, November 15, 2013 for their initiatives that address poverty in Muskoka.

The Muskoka Student Nutrition Program is a partnership between Muskoka, Nipissing and Parry Sound. Each community’s program is led by a volunteer committee and funds raised in that community are kept in that community. The MCF grant will be allocated to Muskoka schools who participate in the breakfast and snack programs and have been affected by increased enrollment due to the implementation of full-day kindergarten.

The Table Soup Kitchen Foundation will use the funds for their Men’s Shelter, which they will operate alongside their Soup Kitchen and Food Bank. Presently the nearest men’s shelters are in Orillia and North Bay.

YWCA Muskoka will use the funds towards their “Bridges out of Poverty” workshop, which is happening on December 2, 2013. The workshop will introduce a fresh perspective on the strengths, and challenges, faced by people living in poverty and offer a way of thinking, together, about how to build the bridges to help people make the transition out of poverty.

Photo (L-R): Gord Durnan (Muskoka Community Foundation Board Chair), John Klinck (District Chair, District of Muskoka), Fran Coleman (Councillor, District of Muskoka), Heather Berg (Table Soup Foundation, grant recipient), Lisette Nault (Community Living North Bay, Student Nutrition Program Coordinator, grant recipient), Lynda Hutt (YWCA Muskoka, Program Facilitator, grant recipient), Ellen Frood (Habitat for Humanity Executive Director), Betsy Rothwell (Treasurer, YWCA Muskoka)