WICS doles out funds

BY MARC LALONDE

Marc.lalonde@transcontinental.ca

In a good-news, bad-news sort of week for West Island Community Shares, the charitable group’s annual grants ceremony was real pleasure for the group, interim executive director Heather Holmes said.

“I’m very proud,” she said, as WICS presented a record-high $550,000 to 25 West Island community groups, ranging widely in scope and mission with one common goal, to make the West Island a better place to live.

“Each year our organization seems to gain more momentum,” Holmes continued.

“The ($550,000) represents our highest total ever,” she said, adding the group eclipsed its donation objective of $500,000. The total also represents a 6.6-per-cent increase over the previous high, set last year.

The one disappointing note for the distribution, Holmes said, was the absence of Resto-Vie, which abruptly shut its doors last week, after learning they wouldn’t be receiving a grant since WICS deemed the community kitchen’s administration had become too “risky” an investment.

“It was a sad thing to lose Resto-Vie,” she said. “It’s a sad, sad situation. Really a sad day for all involved.”

Groups receiving funding for the first time were Cloverdale Multi-Ressources, which provides support to families in the Cloverdale sector of Pierrefonds, the West Island Youth Centre De-Zone, Omega Day Centre and Venturing Out Beyond Our Cancer.

AMCAL Family Services, which provides support for troubled teens and their families, received $59,000. The Pierrefonds Community Project received $56,000. Les Maisons de Jeunes drop-in centres for kids got $39,000. Le Carrefour 6-12 ans received $28,000, while Volunteer West Island received $26,000. The West Island Community Resource Centre and L’Equipe Entreprise both received $22,000, while the West Island Assistance Fund, which operates a food bank and thrift stores in Roxboro and Pierrefonds, garnered $20,000. West Island Citizen Advocacy received $17,000,and Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the West Island got $15,000. West Island CALACS, which provides support and counselling to victims of sexual assaults and AVATIL, which aims to identify individuals who need community support and vocational services, both got $10,000. Leave Out Violence (LOVE) also received $10,000, while Cloverdale Multi-Ressources got $9,000.

In the health sector, the West Island Association for the Intellectually Handicapped received $37,000, while Centre Bienvenue, a drop-in centre and skills-training centre for West Islanders with a mental illness, got $35,000. Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia, which provides support to West Islanders with eating disorders, received $30,000. Community Perspective in Mental Health received $26,000, The Arthritis West Island Self-Help Association received $24,000 and Friends for Mental Health got $23,000. VOBOC received $10,000 and the Omega Day Centre got $6,000.

In the environment and culture sector, the West Island Youth Symphony Orchestra got $7,500, while the Ecomuseum, home to many species of animals native to the St. Lawrence Valley and a place where more than 5,000 students visit every year to learn about the environment, got $4,000.