Directors at the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) have agreed to look into whether grant-in-aid money from the rural areas can be used to help fund efforts by the group Friends of Residential Care.
The group – which wants to hold community consultations to come up with a made-on-the-Sunshine Coast strategy for the future of residential care – is now part of the Community Resource Centre’s (CRC) Seniors Planning Table.
CRC co-chair Anne Titcomb and Seniors Planning Table chair Gloria Lifton appeared before the SCRD board Dec. 8 to speak on their request for $10,000 to help cover costs to bring in a professional facilitator, hold a series of five community meetings, and draft a report.
“This is not – I repeat not – to be a sounding board for issues related to Trellis and Vancouver Coastal Health [VCH],” said Titcomb. “Rather, it’s taking a step back and giving the community a chance to explore possible options.”
Titcomb also said they expect it will take about three months to come up with a report that will include vital information for future decision making. “We are putting before you a community-driven and cost-effective way to get [that information].”
The group is also hoping to get $10,000 from VCH.
SCRD chair Garry Nohr told Titcomb and Lifton that the regional district is already faced with significant funding requests from more than 20 groups heading into the 2017 budget.
Frank Mauro of Pender Harbour, who also chairs the Regional Hospital District (RHD), noted that the SCRD doesn’t have a function set up that could be used to pay for the sort of project the group has in mind. Mauro also said he’d be reluctant to take steps that make it seem as though the SCRD is “commissioning a report.”
Titcomb said for the project to work, it needs to be “collaborative, consistent and concise,” which makes the services of a facilitator necessary because it would be too much to coordinate through volunteers.
Applications for SCRD 2017 grants-in-aid will be accepted up to the end of March, and the board decided to have staff come back with a report on whether the request can be included as part of the 2017 budget package.
The Seniors Planning Table and the RHD are among the local groups that were scheduled to meet with officials from VCH on Dec. 16, and Mauro said the “picture would be clearer” after those meetings. However, he couldn’t get a seconder for a motion to put off asking for the grant-in-aid report until they heard what VCH has to say.
