| Jun 28, 2012


Ever since Southern Frontenac Community Services took the plunge and began to build the former Grace United Church in Sydenham into the Grace Centre, the agencies’ staff and board have been working diligently.

They have been building a home for their services, which focus on services for senior’s and for families in need, as well as a public space for community groups and events.

The project was budgeted at $180,000, and thanks to a Trillium grant and other fund raising efforts, most of the renovations have now been or will soon be completed.

“We now have a commercial kitchen, the flooring is all done on the lower level, a new furnace and air conditioner, the community garden is up and running, we are really getting there,” said David Townsend, the agencies’ Executive Director.

“As the co-chair of the Grace Centre project and a volunteer, countless hours have been spent to ensure that the Grace Centre meets the needs of the agency and the community for many years to come,” said Joan Cameron, the Chair of he SFCS Board.

Now that the Grace Centre renovation is about done, the agency is getting really ambitious. Later this summer h agency will approach the Local Health Integration Network with the proposal that a two storey 4,400 square foot extension be built onto the Grace Centre for administrative offices for the agency, enhancements to its programming for senior’s, and office space for community partners such as Ontario Works, Frontenac Community Mental Health Services, the Ontario Early Years Centre, and others.

“It is a big project, we have costed it at $800,000 but that is preliminary,” said David Townsend. “Right now it is really in the concept stage. We need to hear from the LHIN and others before we launch it formally.”

The proposal will not be a complete surprise to the Southeast Local Health Integration Network. It’s Board Chair, Wynn Turner, was the keynote speaker at the SFCS Annual General Meeting last week.

While she did not promise any money for the expansion of the Grace Centre, she did say that the LHIN’s continue to be supportive of the work that is being done by community agencies.

She said that the LHIN is looking to Community Support Service Agencies such as Southern Frontenac Community to help deliver the new aging at home strategy that is being developed by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.

 

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