Community Grant Recipients
February 2025
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.
Each quarter your Kootenay Co-op gives out four grants valued up to $500 for projects or initiatives that help strengthen and support our local community. This February we were able to give out $2,500 in community grants to 5 amazing community initiatives!
East Kootenay Invasive Species Council (EKISC) is a non-profit organization that works to build strong community-based partnerships and supports collaborative projects between stakeholders, community members, land owners and First Nations. Their goal is to mitigate the spread of invasive plant and aquatic species that threaten the greater Kootenay region.
This grant will be put towards their Backyard Warriors outreach program. This project will provide personalized ‘one on one’ support to individuals across communities who reach out asking for advice relating to their backyard. Locals will reach out to EKISC looking for assistance with invasive species identification and best management practices to control their spread within their property limits.
This project will advance and promote an increased awareness of environmental stewardship, facilitate positive behaviour change towards invasive species prevention and management. EKISC will engage with local communities, directly increasing participant knowledge, awareness and understanding of invasive species in their own backyards and on the property.
The Friends of Kootenay Lake Stewardship Society has a mission to improve the health and stewardship of Kootenay Lake through monitoring, habitat restoration, capacity building, and the empowerment of local communities, First Nations, and stakeholders. FKLSS have worked in the local area for over 12 years to increase stewardship of our local lake ecosystem, monitoring and revitalizing water quality, local wetlands, cleaning the shoreline, monitoring Kokanee and Osprey with many volunteers and community partners.
This grant will be used to fund the Kootenay Lake Stewardship and Education Program for 2025.
This program aims to empower people to be stewards of Kootenay Lake through citizen engagement in hands-on citizen science projects, beach clean ups, volunteer training, stewardship workshops at local community events (markets, festivals etc), as well as promoting learning through social media, monthly newsletter, websites, radio, podcast and other avenues.
Kootenay Wild Mentors (KWM) is a non-profit organization that facilitates one-on-one mentorship for marginalized genders including women, women-identifying individuals, and non-binary and gender non-conforming people to backcountry activities such as ski touring, splitboarding, rock climbing, and hiking. KWM creates mentorship pairs to provide opportunities for learning, developing skills, establishing and working towards set goals for individuals in their backcountry sport.
This grant will be put towards 3-day trip offered to all winter program participants to ski tour/splitboard to a local backcountry hut on April 4-6th, 2025.
This project will facilitate a supportive and empowering environment for women+ to engage with others in backcountry skiing and splitboarding. This space will be dedicated to participants learning and practicing their skills, as well as a direct approach to identified goal-setting and achievement. Notably, a number of participants shared the goal to learn navigation and trip planning skills, and complete an overnight in the backcountry, which this project directly supports. As participants gain and apply their skills, they will be more likely to share their knowledge with others further enriching the backcountry community of our local area.
The West Kootenay Climate Hub comprises of volunteers working to meet the urgency of the climate crisis. Their mission is to accelerate climate action in our region, primarily through facilitating connections, communication and collaboration among those locally engaged in addressing the climate crisis.
This grant is will be put towards the Climate Hub’s Earth Week events. The funds will be used to hire a parade marshall, purchase marketing materials, honorarium for a guest speaker and insurance for the Earth Day parade happening on April 27th.
Find out more details about Earth Week celebration + events here.
The West Kootenay Fibreshed exists to nurture a sustainable and resilient textile ecosystem within the West Kootenay bio-region. They seek to restore and maintain the connection between people, land, and the fibres they produce and use, ensuring that textile production is environmentally sustainable, socially equitable, and economically viable.
This grant will be put towards hosting a launch event to introduce the newly formed organization to the community. The event is designed to celebrate and educate the public about sustainable textile practices, local fibre production, and regenerative farming principles. This launch event will serve as an opportunity to engage with local fibre enthusiasts, producers, and artisans, share the values and vision of the Fibreshed, and invite community members to join the West Kootenay Fibreshed membership program.
At the heart of the event is a screening of The Nettle Dress, a visually stunning and thought-provoking film that follows the journey of creating a garment from foraged nettles. This film perfectly encapsulates The West Kootenay Fibreshed’s mission to promote bioregional thinking and soil-to-soil cycles in fibre crafting and farming. The work of local artist, Carol Ross will also be featured during the event. She went through the process of growing flax and processing it by hand into a dress. This will honour the artistry and dedication to Fibreshed values and principles portrayed by our local fibre community.
Grant funding will be used to cover the costs of the film license and refreshments, ensuring the event is accessible and nourishing for all attendees.
