The Salt Spring Island Foundation is pleased to announce over $84,000 in spring grants for island charities. The Foundation thanks the many caring donors who make our grants possible.

Capacity-Building Grants. This spring, $15,000 is being directed to projects that aim to strengthen our local charities:

• Graffiti Theatre: $5,000 toward a feasibility study for a multi-use performing arts education and recreation centre.
• I-SEA (Institute for Sustainability Education and Action): $2,500 to assist in strengthening the organizational capacity of Transition Salt Spring by implementing a new governance structure that would enable it to effectively manage the ongoing work of climate action implementation on Salt Spring Island.
• Salt Spring Island Community Services/Salt Spring Health Advancement Network: $7,500 to develop a stewardship committee and a two-day mental health symposium to be held in November 2020. The goal of the symposium is to better address mental health and community well-being by bringing together decision-makers, providers and users of mental health services.

Joan Nicholson Youth Recreation Grants. The Foundation is grateful for a generous bequest from Joan Nicholson to support the following projects:

• KidSport Greater Victoria: $7,500 for the So All Kids Can Play program, which funds recreational fees to enable children from local families in need to participate in organized sports.
• School District #64, Grades 9 to 12: $2,663 to support the Youth on the Land project, which will bring Indigenous youth together with local elders and knowledge keepers to learn traditional ways of healing on the ancestral land at Xaaqw’um (Burgoyne Bay).
• School District #64, Salt Spring Island Middle School: $3,103 for a new safety mat for the Tsunami Circus program.

Additional Spring Grants. Other grants have been made in the areas of heritage infrastructure, the arts, the environment and education:

• Beaver Point Hall Society: $4,320 for paint and labour for exterior painting of this important and historic community hall.
• Fulford Community Hall: $10,000 to construct a rainwater collection system, including new gutters and storage tanks.
• Salt Spring Film Festival Society: $6,371 to purchase new sound equipment. The Film Festival supports many other local organizations with media equipment loans and technical assistance.
• Salt Spring Island Community Services: $15,000 for renovations to a newly acquired In from the Cold Emergency Shelter building, including an upgraded heating system, renovated washroom and path lighting.
• Salt Spring Island Historical Society: $5,000 to continue with upgrades to the Salt Spring Island Archives. The funds will be used for hardware, software and consulting fees in order to bring the Archives to a provincially mandated standard.
• Salt Spring Island Water Preservation Society: $5,283 to support the Salt Spring Island Freshwater Catalogue project. The funds will be used for the purchase of water-testing equipment for data collection, as well as for mapping wetlands for Salt Spring Island watersheds that are currently not monitored.
• School District #64: $10,000 to GISS for Chromebooks to support student learning. Access to technology is important to all students, both with and without special needs, particularly during the COVID-19 epidemic while schools are closed.

The Foundation’s next regular grants will be given in fall 2020. Local registered charities are also eligible to apply immediately for grants from the COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Relief Fund. Grants from the fund will focus on community health-care preparedness, relief or assistance for vulnerable people in our community, or other pressing community needs as they emerge.

Please go to our website at ssifoundation.ca or call 250-537-8305 for information about all Foundation grants or to learn how to make a donation to support your community.