The District of 100 Mile House has successfully secured another $20,000 Age-friendly BC grant.
Mayor Mitch Campsall says the district is “absolutely delighted” to see itself, and other rural communities gaining these grants.
“I know [district administrator Roy Scott] and myself have been working on looking at ways to make the municipality ‘age friendly’ for probably about four years. But, in the last couple of years, with the grants, it’s been a whole different story and it’s moving things along a lot faster.”
Councillor Ralph Fossum is the district’s representative on the project group, the mayor notes, which also includes South Cariboo Community Planning Council executive co-ordinator Lea Smirfitt.
“That whole group has done just a phenomenal job.”
Fossum says it was especially great to be approved because the grant program administrators made it clear that applications from potential first-time grant recipients would take priority.
“I knew our chances were not very good for a second time around.”
One of the keys to why the district was successful might be that it is choosing to call the municipality an Age-Friendly Rural Community, with a focus on the “rural,” he explains.
“Probably 75 per cent of our seniors live outside the boundaries of 100 Mile House. So, we encounter some rural problems – transportation is the obvious one, but also communication and so on – that we will be dealing with.
“We’re not going to try to compete with the bigger centres because it is not a practical thing to do.”
The district’s first successful Age-friendly BC grant application was made in 2012 (for 2013 intakes).
The first stage was to identify individuals for a Seniors’ Advisory Group, recruit some willing seniors for roles in helping other seniors, and creating a framework for ongoing age-friendly community development.
Back then, Fossum had described the project as being only in the beginning stages, and promoted pursuing this “unlikely” second grant to further boost the project.
This time, he notes the project was switched up with a new focus, and renamed Becoming an Age-friendly Rural Community.
Fossum says one aspect the 2014 grant will fund is hiring a part-time co-ordinator to keep the program momentum going on making improvements for seniors.
There are “many spokes to the wheel” in being age-friendly in a rural community like the South Cariboo, he adds, including health, transportation, communication, activities, recreation and much more.
“We want someone who can be at the ‘hub of the spokes’ who is not just a volunteer. This is beyond volunteers; we need some paid co-ordination.”
100 Mile House is one of 26 communities in the province to share in close to $500,000 in 2014 Age-friendly BC grants provided through a partnership between the province and the Union of British Columbia Municipalities.
Learn more about the grants program, including tips becoming an age-friendly businesses and how yours might rate on the age-friendly scale, online at www.gov.bc.ca/agefriendly.
