“Re-Di” Grants and Rossland
By Sara Golling
Everyone involved in organizations that have applied for Re-Di Grants already know what they are, but what about everyone else? “Re-Di” stands for “Resident Directed” and in Rossland, the direction comes by way of Rossland residents’ elected representatives on City Council.
Re-Di Grants is a project supported by Columbia Basin Trust, intended to benefit the community as a whole. Most of the recipients of the Re-Di grants consist of volunteers.
Other communities also provide recommendations on both local and regional organizations applying for funding. All recommendations go to the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary for final approval. So, dear readers, please bear in mind that the amounts listed below as Council’s recommendations may not be the final amounts awarded.
Rossland City Council met at 5:00 pm on March 28 to make its recommendations on the 37 applications for Re-Di Grant funding. All Council members were present. They had a total of $55,615.97 to allocate. For every applicant to received what they requested, it would have required over twice the amount available — $114,871.48.
Council’s first step was to hear any additional information from representative of applicant organizations. Councillor Stewart Spooner interrupted the first speaker to state that, if a speaker just summarized what was already in an application, instead of adding new information, he would “mark them down” as Council members had already spent time reading over 700 pages of material in preparation for the meeting.
The next step was to ensure that each applicant had sufficient support; Council did a show of hands for each application, and eliminated five of the applicants from consideration by Rossland – those show an award of “Nil” in the list below.
Note: The amount of the “request” below is the amount requested from Rossland; organizations may have requests for funding from other communities as well. Those are not known to your reporter and are not reported here.
Applicants for Re-Di Grants:
Association des Francophones des Kootenays Ouest:
Request: $2,100.00 Recommended Award: $1,192.86
Bee Awareness Society
Request: $11,700.00 Recommended Award: $2,187.80
Central Kootenay Invasive Species Society
Request: $700.00 Recommended Award: $700.00
Community Futures Development Corporation of Greater Trail
Request: $2,500.00 Recommended Award: $1,314.29
Diverse Family Roots Society
Request: $3,500.00 Recommended Award: $2,185.71
Family Action Network of the Lower Columbia
Request: $2,556.00 Recommended Award: $1,889.14
Greater Trail Hospice Society
Request: $1,765.00 Recommended Award: $1,408.57
Holy Trinity – Trail
Request: $400.00 Recommended Award: $400.00
Horse Association Central Kootenay
Request: $1,000.00 Recommended Award: Nil
Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital & Health Foundation Society
Request: $4,500.00 Recommended Award: $2,964.29
Kootenay Carshare Cooperative
Request: $1,374.00 Recommended Award: $1,106.57
Kootenay Columbia Educational Heritage Society
Request: $300.00 Recommended Award: Nil
Kootenay Music Festival Society
Request: $1,500.00 Recommended Award: $1,163.75
Kootenay Native Plant Society
Request: $1,964.00 Recommended Award: $1,845.91
Living Lakes Canada
Request: $2,000.00 Recommended Award: $1,928.57
Lower Columbia Affordable Housing Society
Request: $6,250.00 Recommended Award: $4,864.29
Red Mountain Racer Society
Request: $16,409.00 Recommended Award: $4,435.89
Rossland Arena Society
Request: $1,882.00 Recommended Award: $1,603.84
Rossland Council for Arts and Culture
Request: $2,000.00 Recommended Award: $1,357.14
Rossland Curling Society
Request: $895.00 Recommended Award: $697.14
Rossland Fall Fair Core Group
Request: $2,500.00 Recommended Award: $2,035.71
Rossland Historical Museum & Archives Association
Request: $6,500.00 Recommended Award: $3,135.71
Rossland Society for Environmental Action
Request: $830.00 Recommended Award: $830.00
S.M.S. Cristoforo Colombo
Request: $500.00 Recommended Award: Nil
Scouts Canada – 2nd Rossland Scout Group
Request: $3,000.00 Recommended Award: $2,357.14
The Canadian Red Cross Society
Request: $1,356.00 Recommended Award: $1,284.57
The Rossland Gold Fever Follies
Request: $10,350.00 Recommended Award: $3,628.57
Trail and District After School Band Program Society
Request: $675.00 Recommended Award: $553.57
Trail 531 Parent Sponsoring Committee
Request: $2,000.00 Recommended Award: Nil
Trail & District Chamber of Commerce
Request: $6,100.00 Recommended Award: $1,928.57
Trail Gymnastics Society
Request: $600.00 Recommended Award: $514.29
Trail Pipe Band
Request: $1,000.00 Recommended Award: $392.86
Visions for Small Schools Society
Request: $7,266.00 Recommended Award: $2,037.66
West Kootenay Cycling Coalition
Request: $1,500.00 Recommended Award: $992.86
West Kootenay Minor Lacrosse Association
Request: $4,350.00 Recommended Award: $2,030.00
West Kootenay Smoke n Steel Auto Club
Request: $400.00 Recommended Award: Nil
Wildsight
Request: $650.00 Recommended Award: $649.00
As stated above, these are only the recommendations from Rossland City Council; applicants will receive notice of the final awards in due course.
During the meeting, both Aimee Ambrosone of CBT and Mayor Andy Morel expressed profound appreciation for the volunteers that make up most of the applicant organizations, and their hugely successful efforts – they are the heart and soul of our communities.
Thank you, volunteers, each and every one of you.
