Nine local groups received cheques Tuesday as the City of Orillia handed out the last of its grants for 2018.
The grants are as follows:
-
Orillia Terry Fox Run committee: $707.87
-
The Cellar Singers: $750
-
Take a Vet to Dinner: $900
-
Couchiching Jubilee House: $1,000
-
Orillia Concert Band: $1,000
-
Orillia Youth Symphony Orchestra (Orillia Youth Music Program): $1,000
-
Underground Orillia: $1,395.55
-
Mosaic Productions: $1,500
-
Royal Canadian Legion Branch 34 Pipes and Drums: $1,500
“Volunteers do so much in this community,” Mayor Steve Clarke told the recipients gathered in his office at city hall. “It’s a small way the city can give back and support your organizations. To do it at Christmas is pretty cool.”
Mosaic Productions will put its grant money toward the next presentation of The Vagina Monologues. The group was formed 14 years ago and has put on the production four times in Orillia and once in Temiskaming. It will be back at the Orillia Opera House on Feb. 22, for one night only, as a fundraiser for the Green Haven Shelter for Women’s capital campaign.
“V-Day gives you the rights to the production if you donate the money to a charity that helps women and children in violent situations,” explained Angela Munday, of Mosaic Productions, which was approached by the shelter about bringing The Vagina Monologues back to town as a fundraiser.
The show has sold out each time it’s been in Orillia, and Munday hopes that happens again. Tickets to the show are on sale at the Opera House box office and online. They cost $30 each.
The city’s grants program is also aiding a music outreach program that used to be a part of the now-disbanded Orillia Youth Symphony Orchestra. Paul McCloskey is president of the Orillia Youth Music Program, which provides musical instruction to students at six local schools. The $1,000 grant will allow the non-profit to cover costs such as instruments.
“An important part of our program is no students left behind,” McCloskey said, noting the group tries to help with expenses for those who cannot afford to take part in the program.
For $125, a student receives 22 weeks of instruction, and the instruments are provided.
“Any money is important to us,” McCloskey said. “The $1,000 will go a long way.”
He said the grants “show the value Orillia places on the community, the volunteers.”
Find out more about the program on its Facebook page or by emailing [email protected].
The group behind the Underground Orillia documentary got its money back in the form of a grant for its rental of the Orillia Opera House, where the film was recently screened. The $1,395.55 gift was “very important,” said Shane Morrison, one of the producers.
“Our production was basically all volunteer, so all the money came out of our pockets,” he said. “It was a perfect opportunity because the Opera House was actually featured in our film, but we were kind of dreading having to come up with that money.”
Morrison hopes to have more public screenings of Underground Orillia. He is also waiting to learn if it has been accepted into the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival.
The city issued $62,000 in grants in 2018. The budget for next year’s grants program will be determined during the 2019 budget process.
