the north grenville
TIMES
Reaching by direct mail 9,000 homes and businesses in North Grenville and Merrickville/Wolford www.ngtimes.ca
Vol. 4, No 19
The Voice of North Grenville
May 11, 2016
Kick-off to Community Living Month in North Grenville
The North Grenville Times is Locally Owned and Operated
by Hilary Thomson Community Living’s flag was raised last Wednesday at the Municipal Centre as the Mayor declared May Community Living Month in North Grenville. The flag raising ceremony at 10 am followed Community Living North Grenville’s annual pancake breakfast. Executive Director, Sandra McNamara, says they had roughly 230 people take part in the breakfast this year. “It was a great success again and a good mix of people we support and their families, staff, local agencies, North Grenville council members, community members and employers.” The pancake breakfast
and flag raising kicked off the province-wide Community Living month. The goal is to raise awareness and promote full participation and inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities in North Grenville. Community Living is holding a variety of activities throughout the month, some of which have already taken place. On Friday evening, they sponsored a family movie night at the Urbandale Arts Centre complete with free popcorn and drinks. They are also running a poster contest for all the elementary schools in the area, asking children to design a poster or write a story that depicts how they see people with intellectual disabilities. The contest deadline is Friday, May 13,
so there is still time to enter and there will be a prize for the winner! Their People First chapter, which is made up of a group of self advocates, is hosting a free BBQ at the Community Living building on Friday, May 20 from 11:30 am-1 pm, and a “Community Living Food Drive” collecting non-perishable food items for the food bank. Throughout the month, the Community Living office on County Road 43 will be lit up in blue and green at night, Community Living’s colours . This is part of a province-wide initiative and they are encouraging people to do the same with their own homes and businesses to help raise awareness and promote inclusion in the community.
Landmarks across Ontario will be participating in this initiative, including the CN Tower in Toronto, to be lit up on May 11. You may not realize this, but Community Living North Grenville is a major employer in the community. They have a staff of 70 people (40 fulltime and 30 part-time) and have a $3.75 million budget, funded primarily by the Ministry of Community and Social Services. Hundreds of thousands of those dollars are transferred right back into the community through staffing, people shopping locally and food and furnishings for their eight residential homes. “We’re not just the brown building on 43,” Sandra says.
Merrickville/ Wolford Times page 10