April 5, 2006 • Chrysalis Celebrates Funding Winfall
By Tamara de la Vega — Huntsville Forester
Roof raising affair: Volunteers with the Chrysalis women’s shelter are thrilled by a $700,000 funding announcement made last week by senior levels of government. From l to r, District of Muskoka chair Gord Adams, Chrysalis capital campaign co-chair Scott Aitchison, chair of Muskoka Women’s Advocacy Group Sharon Smith, the other two co-chairs of the Chrysalis capital campaign Claude Doughty and Elizabeth Rice Aben,
Huntsville and District councillor Fran Coleman and executive director of Muskoka Interval House Joy McCormack were in a jovial mood last Wednesday.
It was smiles all around last Wednesday as volunteers for the Chrysalis women’s shelter proposed in Huntsville learned of a $700,000 funding announcement from a joint federal and provincial affordable housing initiative.
The funding application was submitted to the new Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program through the efforts of Huntsville and District councillor Fran Coleman and the District of Muskoka community services committee.
Last week the District received a letter from Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing John Gerretsen announcing a $700,000 funding allocation for ten units.
Those ten units are attached to the shelter in the form of transitional housing to help women and their children get back on their feet. However, District staff are seeking clarification as to exactly which ten units are being funded.
“Staff are having a problem. The letter to them doesn’t define enough from the Ministry that it is for that particular project,” said Coleman, adding neither ‘Chrysalis’ nor ‘women’s shelter’ is mentioned in the letter and that in itself is causing some concern among District staff.
However, Coleman assured clarification will be sought and the funds will flow through the District to the project. “We’ll get it eventually. There is no question, we will get it,” said
Coleman. She and District of Muskoka chair Gord Adams are expected to meet with senior levels of government on April 11.
“I don’t think there is a problem,” said Adams. “We can possibly create a problem if we start construction before the approval process,” he said, adding that he is concerned that the Province has not approved any particular project at this time, but only allocated funds to affordable housing in the community.
In the meantime, the prospect of more than a half a million dollars toward the Chrysalis project has got everybody beaming. “It’s the difference between not happening and happening,” said Chrysalis capital campaign co-chair Scott Aitchison. He said community support will still be required through monetary donations and volunteer work.
Aitchison said the funds will help stimulate more activity and fundraising in the community “because they’ll actually see things happening finally. We are getting a lot of questions about when it’s starting and now it is.”
The mayor’s golf tournament and the Rotary Club have made commitments to support the project as well, according to Aitchison.
Claude Doughty, who is in charge of overseeing the construction of the project and is also co-chair of the Chrysalis capital campaign, was also excited about the $700,000 contribution.
“We’ll be prepping the site next week. We’ll be going to tender next week. We’ll have this project done by the first part of November,” he said last week upon hearing of the funding.
Coleman said she and Adams will try and seek clarification on the funding announcement in time for the start of the building season.
The day executive director Joy McCormack of Muskoka Interval House in Bracebridge learned of the letter she had also received calls of inquiry about Huntsville’s proposed shelter.
“It’s ironic that we had a couple of calls today from the Huntsville area from women who were in situations where they needed to get out. But they had kids in high school so coming to Bracebridge and interrupting their kids’ school lives makes the situation all the more complicated and difficult for them,” said McCormack last Wednesday.
Elizabeth Rice Aben, also a co-chair of the Chrysalis capital campaign, applauded the funding announcement when it was made last week and said she hopes the shelter will be up by Christmas.
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