OLDS – Town council approved a total of $43,100 worth of Mountain View Power spring grants to local non-profit organizations during its May 26 meeting.
Requests for grants totaling $123,610.75 were received from 10 groups in the community. Four were deemed ineligible.
A Town news release says since its inception in the spring of 2023, Mountain View Power Community Grants Committee has given back to the community a total of $290,100
Following is a breakdown of grants approved in this year's spring intake.
• $ 8,000 Community Learning Campus – disc golf course (Hartman Green);
• $10,000 Imagine Gymnastics Club – gymnastics equipment upgrades;
• $ 6,350 Men’s Shed of Olds Society – tools;
• $ 9,250 Olds & Area Pregnancy Centre – family growth and learning space;
• $4,000 Olds Minor Softball – equipment; and
• $5,500 Olds Pickleball – outdoor enhancement project.
The four applications deemed ineligible for the grants were:
• BGC Olds and Area,
• The Community Lending Shelf,
• The Imperial Hospitality Alberta Foundation and
• The Mountain View Emergency Shelter Society.
The Community Learning Campus received $8,000 to replace the existing nine-hole disc golf course on Hartman Green with updated equipment and improved course features.
“This project involves removing the current disc golf targets and installing new T3 professional-grade permanent targets, updating hole signage, and refreshing the course information,” a Town document says.
“With the installation of these professional standard targets, the Olds Disc Golf Course will be suitable for both recreational use and organized league play.”
The Imagine Gymnastics Club will use its grant to obtain equipment that will enable it to run recreational and competitive programming at the same time, so athletes don’t have to wait to share equipment.
The grant received by the Men’s Shed of Olds will help the organization buy tools to undertake several projects that will benefit the community of Olds and the surrounding area.
The grant the Olds & Area Pregnancy Support Centre received will help it obtain more learning space for families.
“This space will help their clients participate in courses such as infant massage, prenatal workshops and support for bereaved parents,” the Town document says.
Olds Minor Softball will use its grant to obtain a pitching machine and net.
The Olds Pickleball Club will use its grant to obtain more durable nets.
Earlier, the municipality installed five outdoor courts and bought some portable nets, “but they have not held up well,” a town document says.
“One sturdy net was added last year, and four more are needed for consistent outdoor use.”
Coun. Dan Daley described the grants approved as “very impressive, spot on.”
He asked whether there’s any grant money left over.
Director of community services Guy Lapointe said $50,000 was allocated for this spring intake, so $6,900 is left over.
“The discussion from the committee side of things was they felt like they had supported the grants admirably, had robust discussion about things, and really didn't want to force dollars into any of the applications needlessly. So their hope was to roll that $6,900 to be added to the fall intake amount,” he said.
Coun. Wanda Blatz asked if at least some of that left over grant money could still be disbursed if someone came forward with “an emergent-type request.”
“I mean, in theory, they could be. I would say that the committee right now, at this point, only meets twice a year, so it would require a special meeting on their behalf,” Lapointe said.
“So certainly I think it could receive consideration, but the preference would be to leave it for the second intake.”
Coun. Darren Wilson asked Lapointe if he’s satisfied that all those who could benefit from the Mountain View Power grant process are aware of it and the opportunity it could provide them.
“I would say that the awareness around the program is growing; certainly that can be improved,” Lapointe said.
He also said the Town is looking at rebranding Mountain View Power and creating a new logo for it.
“The intention would be to start talking more about the dollars being reinvested into the community, rather than focusing on the rate that you can have achieved through the through the utility at this point,” Lapointe said.
“So again, I think it's known, and perhaps on the verge of being well known, but we certainly want people to understand the benefit to their organizations.”
Coun. Heather Ryan asked why an applications she though “kind of had merit” was deemed ineligible.
“Having sat in on those sessions, I think that the focus of the committee really was on seeing added community benefit, and that some of these requests were very much focused on the user groups that they'd be servicing,” Lapointe said.
He cited the pickleball club’s application as an example.
“It was a club that was applying, yet the nets would stay in place for the broader community to use after the fact,” he said.
Lapointe said the committee also weighed factors such as: are the groups coming forward with some dollars of their own? Are they prepared to do some additional fundraising? How realistic is it for them to get their project “through to the finish” in the short term?
