Tag Archives: Cortes Island Deathcare Collective

Community, Food, Jobs

How the Cortes Foundation Dispersed $105,000 to help Reduce Poverty

The Cortes Island Community Foundation recently announced that it is giving $105,000 to four of Cortes Island’s essential non-profit organizations. The Cortes Island Food Bank will receive $40,000, Whaletown Community Club – $22,000, Island Death Care Society – $26,400 and  Support Our Seniors – $16,600. This money came from the BC Government’s Community Prosperity Fund, which is intended to help local communities address poverty reduction and social inclusion. In today’s interview Christina MacWilliam, Co-Chair of the Community Foundation and a member of the granting jury, and Andrea Fisher, Operations Manager of the Foundation, tell us the story behind this grant and why these four organizations were chosen. 

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Community

Music & 9 Special Projects: The Care 4 Cortes Campaign

The Care 4 Cortes campaign officially ends today, but there is still an opportunity to donate this weekend. 

Manda Aufochs Gillespie, Executive Director of the Cortes Island Community Foundation, explained “There’s still a day or two where we’ll leave up our Care for Cortes donation page on Cortes Foundation.ca.  you can  still see all the different projects that were highlighted. Give to them,   if you have the financial wherewithal.  It doesn’t have to be a lot.  $20 to  something like MicroGrants for Neighbours or to the Cortes Death Caring Collective, makes a difference. If a lot of people do it, this makes a big difference.” 

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Community

Cortes Island’s 2023 MicroGrants 4 Neighbours Program

The thirteen projects that applied to Cortes Island’s MicroGrants for Neighbours Program this year received a total of $6,000 in funding. 

“This was the first year we ran it in partnership with Neighborhood Small Grants, which is actually  part of the Vancouver Foundation,” explained Isabella McKnight, Executive Administrator of the Cortes Island Community Foundation, which runs the local microgrants program.”’  

“I believe that having this seed money and the ability to then rent a space, or buy supplies, or hire facilitators really helped to kickstart these events. Without even just a couple hundred dollars to pay for somebody’s time to run these events, I don’t think all of them would have happened. I’m really hoping that after seeing the success of the programs and the events that ran this year, we’ll have even more applications next year.” 

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Politics

SRD Approved all but one of Cortes Island’s Grants in Aid

Editor’s note: The following report consists of highlights from a segment of the SRD Board Meeting of Nov 22, 2023. 

The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) Board approved all but one of Cortes Island’s 2023 Grant-in Aid applications. It was a long, often confusing, debate. The SRD Board denied the Cortes Island Academy’s application because, as Chief Administration Officer (CAO) David Leitch explained “this Grant in Aid is in contradiction to our policy in terms of awarding money to other senior levels of government.” The Board initially granted the other Cortes applications, then seemed on the verge of rescinding them. Their decision to pass most of the applications was followed by a motion to change the manner in which Grants-in-Aid are processed.

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Family

Local Death Caring Collective expands services, helps community navigate health care options

By Greg Osoba, CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

Cortes Island Death Caring Collective is looking to expand its services and hire a staff member as the local island’s population ages.

Collective Co-founder Margaret Verschuur says that more community members are needing help to navigate the myriad of health care options available for addressing physical or mental health needs, or both. She adds that those needs can be due to physical limitations, loss of a loved one, or ageing in place.

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