Tracy Sim, Times-Chronicle

A $5,000 Community Foundation grant that will be used to install a new elevator at the Oliver Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Shop will help make stocking and moving items throughout the store easier for workers and volunteers who are often older.

“We are 100% volunteer run and proudly donate our time and energy to the shop. The elevator has allowed our volunteers, who are mostly seniors, a safe way to transport merchandise from the processing area to the retail space,” says Jane Noonan, who volunteers at the store, which raises funds for the South Okanagan Medical Centre and SOS Medical Foundation.  

“The thrift shop is more than just a place for us to volunteer, it’s also our social time and a way to stay connected in the community,” added Noonan.

The South Okanagan Health Care Auxiliary Society, which operates the thrift store, was just one of more than 40 charities in the region that were given a boost in funding from the Community Foundation of the South Okanagan Similkameen’s 2022 grants program. 

Of the $330,000 total funds granted this year, half went towards supporting the operations, projects and new programs at local charities and non-profit organizations. The rest of the money was dedicated to endowment funds that are managed by the Community Foundation for individuals who have chosen their own charity to support.

You can apply for the grant from August to October of this year. To find out more, visit the Community Foundation’s website for tips, contact information and to sign up for an upcoming grant writing workshop.

“All are welcome to sign up for the workshop, whether they’re new applicants, returning grant applicants, or for anyone who just wants to know a bit more about applying for non-profit funding,” says Sarah Trudeau, manager of the grants programs. “We’d love to help you apply and support programs that make our communities better places to live.”  The next grant writing workshop will take place this fall in September of 2022. 

Noonan attended a grant writing workshop to help craft her elevator pitch.  “I hadn’t written one in over 10 years and this seminar was just excellent”, she says.  “It really made you focus your answers on what it is you need and why”.

To see who received the grants that were awarded in 2022 and for more information on applying for a grant visit here.