Niagara Safety Village

New Roof. $50,000 Received.
www.niagarasafetyvillage.com

The impact of receiving this grant from the BCM Community Grant Fund is immeasurable for the Niagara Safety Village. We were in need of a new roof for our Education Centre for the past 2 years, and now with receiving this grant the roof can be replaced.

This will now enable us to continue to deliver quality, hands on, safety education to over 7,000 students a year, from across Niagara, and programs for seniors and other community groups.

Wainfleet Agricultural Society

Purchase a stage/platform for Wainfleet Fall Fair indoor entertainment. $13,441 Received.

The grant from BCM Insurance allowed the Wainfleet Agricultural Society — Wainfleet Fall Fair to purchase a safe and manageable stage/platform to highlight Fall Fair presentations and entertainment. The stage/platform with safety in mind was purchased in August and ready for volunteers to set up for the start of the Fair in September. It proved to be very manageable for our volunteers who easily assembled, dismantled and stored it. The stage/platform is a community asset that the Fall Fair and other Wainfleet events will be able to use well into the future. During the Fair, the stage/platform hosted the Opening Ceremonies which included an opportunity for the Fair to thank BCM Insurance for the grant that allow the purchase of the stage/platform.

South Niagara Rowing Club

Rowing shell to support rowing program to Welland area students and adults. $12,000 Received
www.rowsnrc.ca

SNRC’s goal with the Bertie & Clinton grant was to initially purchase one (1) new double rowing shell. However, in working with the shell manufacturer, we were able to locate two slightly used shells (1 single/1 double) for virtually the same cost as a new double. The manufacturer then included a complete refinishing of the two used shells so that when they were received, they were as good as brand new. This then provided us with the benefit of two shells and immediately increased the impact of this grant within our membership by 50%. What we have learned from this experience is that there are ways that we can maximize the benefit of our capital equipment expenditures by considering slightly used shells over just new ones.

2020 has been a very unusual year for the South Niagara Rowing Club as it has been for the entire world. From a rowing perspective, we were unable to open our doors to our members until June 8 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, since that time, SNRC has been able to provide rowing opportunities to over 40 youth and 20 adults over the summer. Despite all the restrictions, SNRC has managed to fill most of our summer programs to capacity. Due to the COVID restrictions, we have been limited to using singles and doubles, as larger crew boats are still not allowed. This made the two rowing shells purchased with the support of the Bertie & Clinton grant, incredibly important and the timing couldn’t have been better. We knew that these two shells would be a very important part of our rowing fleet, under normal conditions, but both these shells have been in use up to 3 times a day, 7 days a week and the feedback from the members using them is that they are so grateful that they have had the opportunity to row these shells. Currently, there are 8 members using the two boats however, once we get back to a non-pandemic environment, we expect the number of members positively impacted by these two shells will exceed 40.

Project Share

Sponsoring BCM Good News Breakfast. $10,000 Received.
www.projectshare.ca

The BCM Insurance Good News Breakfast for Project SHARE was an incredible campaign for Project SHARE and the low- income families who rely on us. The month leading up to the December 6 event saw thirty businesses and ten schools host drives to collect as much food, toys and monetary gifts as possible to help those less fortunate experience the joy of the holiday season. The giving spirits and collaboration we saw within the community was so inspiring! The grand total we announced at the December 6 breakfast was $229,000 in food, toys and monetary gifts making this year our most successful event by far! With the generous support of BCM Insurance Company and our community we were able to provide a holiday meal and children’s gifts to 3, 832 of our Niagara Falls neighbours in need, who may not have had a Christmas otherwise.

Autism Ontario – Niagara Chapter

Furnishing sensory room for youth. $10,000 Received.
www.autismontario.com

Autism Ontario Niagara Chapter has provided programs and services throughout the Niagara region for over 35 years. Our vision is “Best life, Better world, Making autism matter”, which is why we made it our goal to reduce barriers to children, youth and adults with autism, along with their families by partnering with Christ Community Church to offer programs and services in Welland. Adding this location will reduce transportation barriers to families in Welland and all of South Niagara. Christ Community Church has offered Autism Ontario Niagara Chapter the lower level of their location to provide a program space and a much-needed sensory program room.

How will this sensory room impact the community? Currently there is no sensory room available within the Welland and South Niagara Region. This new sensory room will provide a local program opportunity for families with children, youth and adults with autism, service and respite workers, other social service workers and their clients with eyesight, hearing and behavioural challenges. Individuals benefit from sensory room-controlled sound, lighting, touch, and temperature. This helps them better cope with the world around them by creating a safe environment. Benefits of a sensory room include improve focus, develop reactivate senses, encourage socialization, promote cognitive development, and improve motor development.

The current COVID 19 pandemic had a huge impact on our sensory room development. Our project was very behind on meeting our deadlines. There have been several reasons for this delay including our office being shut down due to COVID 19, the church where the sensory room will be located is still shut down due to COVID 19, all companies that we were dealing with shut down production of our equipment as well as the professionals coming into the building to prepare the room being shut down or limited services during this pandemic. Although the preparation and install of the sensory room is complete, it is with a heavy heart that our sensory room projected opening will still need to be delayed due to health and safety concerns and guidelines for a high touch program such as the sensory room during this pandemic. We are following all safety precautions and will open the sensory room as soon as it is safe to do so.

The Hope Centre

Welland – $10,000 Received – www.thehopecentre.net/

The Hope Centre is grateful to be a recipient of the BCM Community Fund.

This invaluable collaboration will support our commitment to assisting and strengthening our community by attending to the basic needs of its most vulnerable citizens. Over 5% of Welland’s population access food through our food bank and community lunch program each year.

This partnership will greatly impact our ability to provide access to these programs and allow The Hope Centre’s volunteers and staff to continue to work to empower change, increase resilience to poverty, create positive opportunities and support an individual’s and family’s capacity to be self-sustaining in the future.

Food 4 Kids Niagara

Gala sponsor. $7,500 Received
www.food4kidsniagara.ca

Food4 Kids Niagara exists to provide weekend packages for food to children who are facing severe food insecurity and struggling to make it in the community. In an effort to raise funds to support our program, we hosted our first Spoiled Palate Gala, presented by BCM Insurance. The gala was attended by 240 people. Through funds raised, we were able to expand programming throughout the year to an additional 60 children in schools in Niagara.