Wranglers dominate weekend games A25
DECEMBER 11, 2013
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100milefreepress.net
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Local RCMP to get a new station A7
Chris Nickless photo
The “Ogden Sisters,” Donna Forward, left, Edda Brett and Vanessa Toews, performed the song Christmas Island/Melekalikimaka during the Eclectica Choir’s White Christmas concert at Martin Exeter Hall on Dec. 8. All three ladies are staff members at Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School. See more photos in this week's Cariboo Connector.
Local artist wins award B1
New funds granted for seniors Age-friendly focus on rural life brings application success
Carole Rooney
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The District of 100 Mile House has successfully secured another $20,000 Age-friendly BC grant. Mayor Mitch Campsall says the district is “absolutely delighted” to see itself, and other rural communities gaining these grants. “I know [district administrator Roy Scott] and myself have been working on looking at ways to make the municipality ‘age friendly’ for probably about four years. But, in the last couple of years, with the grants, it’s been a whole different story and it’s moving things along a lot faster.” Councillor Ralph Fossum is the district’s representative on the project group, the mayor notes, which also includes South Cariboo Community Planning Council executive co-ordinator Lea Smirfitt. “That whole group has done just a phenomenal job.” Fossum says it was especially great to be approved because the grant program administrators made it clear that applications from potential first-time grant recipients would take priority. “I knew our chances were not very good for a
second time around.” This time, he notes the project was switched up One of the keys to why the district was suc- with a new focus, and renamed Becoming an Agecessful might be that it is choosing to call the friendly Rural Community. municipality an Age-Friendly Rural Community, Fossum says one aspect the 2014 grant will fund with a focus on the “rural,” he explains. is hiring a part-time co-ordinator to keep the “Probably 75 per cent of our seniors live program momentum going on making outside the boundaries of 100 Mile House. improvements for seniors. So, we encounter some rural problems – There are “many spokes to the wheel” transportation is the obvious one, but also in being age-friendly in a rural comcommunication and so on – that we will munity like the South Cariboo, he adds, be dealing with. including health, transportation, com“We’re not going to try to compete with munication, activities, recreation and the bigger centres because it is not a pracmuch more. tical thing to do.” “We want someone who can be at Ralph The district’s first successful Agethe ‘hub of the spokes’ who is not just a Fossum friendly BC grant application was made volunteer. This is beyond volunteers; we in 2012 (for 2013 intakes). need some paid co-ordination.” The first stage was to identify individuals for 100 Mile House is one of 26 communities in a Seniors’ Advisory Group, recruit some willing the province to share in close to $500,000 in 2014 seniors for roles in helping other seniors, and Age-friendly BC grants provided through a partcreating a framework for ongoing age-friendly nership between the province and the Union of community development. British Columbia Municipalities. Back then, Fossum had described the project as Learn more about the grants program, includbeing only in the beginning stages, and promoted ing tips becoming an age-friendly businesses and pursuing this “unlikely” second grant to further how yours might rate on the age-friendly scale, boost the project. online at www.gov.bc.ca/agefriendly.