Community Grant Recipients: February 2024
The ambitious people driving the organizations and initiatives in our community are a constant source of inspiration. We are forever grateful to live, work + play in a place where so many folks are invested in making change happen! As members, your continued support helps strengthen our community, contributing to the success of these incredible initiatives and projects.
Every quarter the Kootenay Co-op gives out four grants valued up to $500, for projects or initiatives that help strengthen and support our local community. Check out this Winter’s recipients
Kaslo Community Acupuncture Society
Kaslo Community Acupuncture Society (KCAS) has been operating barrier-free acupuncture clinics bi-weekly in Kaslo since 2020. Since then we have provided over 1150 treatments to over 250 patients. Community members can access acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine treatments by donation, or paywhat- you-can. Our goal is to provide acupuncture to members of our community who may not otherwise be able to afford to access it. Our registered practitioners are trained to treat acute and chronic pain, symptoms of chronic diseases, mental health illness such as depression and anxiety, women’s health, digestive health, support for addiction treatment, and pre-post surgery support.
Nelson & District Arts Council
While well known as an arts community, there was not a festival situated within the city limits. In 2018 the Nelson International Mural Festival was created, with the intention of providing all community members the opportunity to experience world class visual and performance art in a fully accessible, barrier free, centralized setting. Over six years the festival has grown in scope, showing our community’s voracious appetite for cultural experiences. Beyond the festival the impact of the murals is huge and will continue to evoke conversations and inspiration for at least a decade beyond their creation. The festival is comprised of artist talks and panels, workshops on dance, public art, becoming a professional visual or performance artist, hip hop music, appreciating, nor appropriating cultures, street theatre, large scale art process and more. Each year we hold three days of community celebrations that feature diverse artists who are local as well as nationally recognized performers.
West Kootenay Women’s Association
The Drop-In resource and referral Program provides a community of supportive women, gender diverse individuals, and children where they can access coffee, tea, snacks, and free nutritious food to share at the centre or take home for there pantries. Many of our program participants come seeking food as the cost of living continues to rise. We want to be able to help these individuals and families make ends meet by purchasing food for our food hamper. While the Nelson Community Food Centre does an amazing job of providing food to our community, we find that there are many women and marginalized gendered individuals that come to the women’s Centre seeking food services.
Groundswell Network Society
Groundswell has worked with student in Invermere since it’s beginnings in 2008. Currently we are working with students in the Rocky Mtn School District teaching them all aspect of gardening. One school in particular the J.A. Laird Elementary school has enlisted the whole school in our Gardening program! Other schools are interested but we do not have the capacity. Funding would go towards supporting the program to continue to growing, allowing for more students to participate.
