November 12, 2003 Ottawa Citizen - pg.
E5
Charitable Giving Insert
By Louise Rachlis
Thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation of Ottawa, the Horn of Africa Women's Association can provide a sewing and employment instruction program to low-income women and children, especially those who are newcomers from Africa.
Another small Community Foundation grant enables The Children's Welcome Centre to offer child-rearing and children's recreational programs to enable young children to socialize and develop in a nurturing environment.
At the Banff Avenue Tenants Association community house in South East Ottawa, a grant supports a homework club for youth and children at risk.
Throughout the region, there are innumerable small charities with big hearts and amazing accomplishments - thanks in part to help from the Community Foundation of Ottawa. "What's so amazing is that so many of these organizations operate with very little money, very few staff, but when you look at all the work that they do and the volunteers that they have, it's just wonderful," says Georgette Houle, director of Grantmaking Programs and Services with the Community Foundation of Ottawa.
The Community Foundation works with organizations to make sure they know about Community Foundation programs and grants, and along with Donor Services helps to link donors with projects. Often, the support of the Community Foundation leads to other donors, from both the public and private sectors, coming on board too.
Community Foundation funding enabled St. Matthew's Harmony House, a shelter for abused women and children, to install a play structure and garden for the children. St. Matthew's employs two full-time and two part-time staff, and has 20 volunteers.
Another grant enabled the Palliative Care Outreach Program, which takes referrals from family doctors and specialists and offers palliative care and massage therapy to patients suffering from lymphedema, and provides respite support to caregivers of patients. Palliative Care Outreach has seven employees and 20 to 30 volunteers.
A small grant to Odyssey Theatre helps them provide training for eight to 12 young actors who will form a permanent local touring troupe to perform at special events in the community.
iSisters Technology is a new organization that offer access to technology and learning for those who would be unable to afford these experiences. They work as mentors to empower women and girls and help level the playing field when it comes to familiarity with technology.
The Community Foundation has supported two recent iSisters projects: a project in which they are involved with Big Sisters, Little Sisters to offer technology training in a fun format and another project where they are using technology to help Inuit women complete their grade 12 equivalency.
At the Aphasia Centre of Ottawa, the Foundation recently provided a small grant to assist them to develop resources to support access to social and therapeutic computer activities for the clients.
Another grant went towards a summer cultural program for children and youth run by the Committee of Afghan Educators and Parents (Afghanistan Relief International Aid Network Services (Canada). The purpose was to increase their awareness of the history and culture of Afghanistan and of Canada.
"The other day we were visiting Cooperative Ami Jeunesse, a francophone organization with only a few staff members and over 120 volunteers," says Ms. Houle. "They are providing service to hundreds of low income families across the region. It's powerful."
As an example, armed with a small grant from the Community Foundation, representatives of Ami Jeunesse took the money, got a bookstore discount and were able to provide dictionaries so each family could have one, she says. "It's quite something. Volunteers are needed to do that kind of work because governments just don't have the resources to reach out in the same way"
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