Grace Centre Update

Dr. Daniel Eustace | Sep 27, 2023

If you have recently driven or walked by the Southern Frontenac Community Services site (aka the Grace Centre) on Stage Coach Road, you will have noticed that the new wing construction is taking shape very nicely. Once the walls themselves were constructed, a series of other steps were quickly completed, including backfill around the building, roof installation, sub-floor installation, and flooring to connect to the existing building. We expect that concrete work and interior framing will begin soon. Overall, the construction is on schedule, and we anticipate that the building will be complete in early 2024.

When the new wing is finished, it will have replaced the two ‘temporary’ portables that housed the food bank and some staff offices. Those portables were not fit for purpose, and desperately needed to be replaced. The new wing will house an expanded and purpose-built food bank on the lower level, and the main level will include the reception area, a confidential meeting space for clients, and other amenities that will allow us to improve our services and programs for the foreseeable future.

Of course, all this comes with a cost. While our original estimate for the project was $2 million, the final cost is now closer to $3.1 million. This is the result of a steep rise in the cost of materials and overall inflationary pressures that everyone in our community, and across the country, have been experiencing over the past year.

As a result of a generous gift from South Frontenac Township, various grants, and the generosity of our community, we have raised close to the original estimate, but we must continue to fundraise an outstanding gap of $1.2 million. In order to help us achieve this challenging goal, we have hired a professional fundraiser, Kim Henry, who has extensive experience in that field – she has already developed a series of exciting initiatives that you will hear more about in the very near future.

Allow me to close this long overdue update with a personal note of thanks for everyone who has already contributed to this important community project. We recognize that many people in our community are long-time contributors to the Grace Centre, and make regular donations to our operations, and especially the foodbank, on which so many of our friends and neighbours rely. But when the call came to make the extra effort to donate to our capital build, they answered that call and stepped up. Why?

For myself, the answer to that question (and I suspect for others as well), is that I want to ensure that the services and programs that the Grace Centre offers will be there for myself and my wife in the future. I do not consider the monies that I give to the Grace Centre as a donation (although I do welcome the tax receipt!). I consider those monies an investment in our own health and in the health of our community. COVID-19 proved that a healthy community is vital to maintain a socially and economically strong community - without health, nothing else is possible. Our mission at the Grace Centre is to support our seniors, and others in need, to live healthy lives and live at home for as long as possible. Not only is this a better option for the individual themselves, but it is far more cost effective for the health care system as a whole.

For those who have already made investments in our agency and our capital build, we thank you. For those who haven’t yet, please consider answering the call – it is an investment in your own health, the health of your family, and the entire community. Please go to our website at https://www.sfcsc.ca/, or call 613-376-6477 and ask to speak with Kim.

Dr. Daniel Eustace is Chair of the Board of Directors of Southern Frontenac Community Services.