A local family-violence prevention program is in jeopardy of losing its funding and the Rotary Club of Barrhead is looking for municipal dollars to keep it local.
Club president Mark Oberg made his presentation to county council Nov. 21 and said the purpose of his meeting was to ask the county to cost-share the approximated $45,000 in annual expenses for Thrive, with the club and the town.
“Since the pool’s construction was completed, the club has been looking for a new project to undertake and we had community leaders come in to talk to us about what the real needs in our community are,” Oberg said, noting FCSS director Shelley Dewsnap, a representative of the Blue Heron Support Services Association, Jenny Bruns from the County of Barrhead, parks &recreation director Shallon Touet and Agrena Society president Shannon Carlson were all approached.
Oberg said the list had more than 20 items.
“Our club wanted to find two projects we could focus on, one being a long-term program and the other, a capital project,” Oberg said, adding the long-term program the club settled on was Thrive.
“It is a family-violence prevention program. I’m not going to pretend to know everything but it looks like, unless something dramatic happens, the funding for this program is going to end in March 2018.”
Oberg said the club does not think the community can afford to lose it.
“In our area, in our part of Alberta, we have a high instance of family violence occurring and this program doesn’t just deal with that. It covers bullying and elder abuse as well. We have to find a way for the funding to come through and that’s why the club asked me to approach the town and the county,” he said, adding the cost of providing the service in Barrhead is approximately $45,000 yearly.
“We proposed to put $15,000 of our own funds into the program and have the town and county contribute $15,000 a piece. It would be for a two-year period starting in April 2018 and when I spoke with the town [Nov.14), I was told a motion for this question had been made to have a discussion at the joint-budget meeting with the county. This will give FCSS an opportunity to talk about the program in more detail and to provide answers for the questions councillors may have.”
On a question from Coun. Walter Preugschas regarding how the program was administered, Oberg said he believed it was a stand-alone initiative.
“It is provided through FCSS. When I talked to mayor McKenzie, he told me that when he was RCMP, he was the contact for this program however,” Oberg said, adding the problem with a program like this is the lack of public communication.
“It isn’t like with cancer where when you get healed, they parade you around and take pictures. With this program, whether it is successful or not, nobody will ever know because no one ever talks about it. As far as how many people use the program, there is a great need in our area. It is over-used.”
Alluding to the list of community projects and initiatives that need attention, Preugschas asked why this program was picked over others.
“When we had the community leaders come in, we asked them which was the most important and hands-down, Shelley [Dewsnap] said this one was the greatest need,” he said.
