Two community groups have now received final payments through a District of Houston fund to provide relief to groups affected in one way or another by the pandemic.
Council originaly set aside $100,000 to assist community groups in dealing with the pandemic, providing half of the money up front and half when a final report was submitted.
Both Houston Link to Learning and the Houston Mountain Biking association submitted their final reports to the District at the beginning of the year.
The grant to the mountain biking association allowed it to finish three biking trails and loops, significantly adding to its network on Mount Harry Davis.
“Thanks so much for this funding, it made these trails a reality,” mountain biking association president Mark Groot wrote to council of the $12,000 it received.
The District grant helped in fleshing out a $71,470 budget for the work, a project that went into the design stage in the summer of 2021 with work starting in the summer of 2022 leading to completion in fall of 2022.
Houston Link to Learning’s grant is helping finance a series of activities for seniors.
There’s bowling and movies at the Pleasant Valley Plaza, now owned by Houston Link to Learning, snacks and drinks and transportation assistance through the Legion’s shuttle.
In total, the District COVID program provided $15,000.
“Since we started in July, we have had a total of 202 attend the gatherings with an average of 10 participants each week,” Houston Link to Learning’s report stated.
“This program enhanced mental health and well-being in so many ways.”
The $100,000 set aside by the District came from a $1.066 million grant sent by the province to the District to deal with the effects of the pandemic.
Of the $100,000 available for community groups and others, $11,090 remained before council decided to wrap up the program last fall.
Groups receiving money included the Royal Canadian Legion, Beanstalk Childcare, Houston Link to Learning, Silverthorne Elementary, Houston Hospice Society, the Morice Mountain Ski Club, the Houston Mountain Biking Association and the Houston Christian School.