A donation to Central Community Homes (CCH) last week got the Winkler agency off to an amazing start in its bid to raise funds for its Main St. affordable housing project.
Mend the Gap, an endowment fund with the Winkler Community Foundation, presented CCH with $122,568.41 towards the Central Commons build going up at the corner of Main St. and North Railway Ave.
The 28-unit apartment building, expected to be operational by late next year, will greatly expand CCH’s stock of affordable and social housing units. The non-profit currently oversees all the community’s social housing, partnering with the Central Station Community Centre in their management.
The cost of the project is about $5 million. CCH has secured the bulk of the money needed, but is still looking to raise about a half million in community support.
Last week’s Mend the Gap donation is a huge step towards that goal, says CCH board chair James Friesen.
“The nice thing about this donation was we haven’t really gone to the community actively to fundraise yet,” he said. “This contribution from Mend the Gap, Triple E Developments, came out of a number of fundraising initiatives they started years back.”
The Mend the Gap endowment fund was created following the 2018 Vital Signs report in an effort to address ongoing housing issues in the community.
In the years since, founders James and Jaycee Elias together with Triple E Developments have hosted annual golf tournaments and Christmas parties to grow the fund. The money has supported countless Christmas housing projects (rallying together tradespeople to restore aging social housing units in time for the holidays, and ensuring the family moving in has gifts and food on the table to celebrate), housing development play structures, and other low income housing projects.
“It is a donor-advised fund,” said foundation executive director Myra Peters, explaining it was created by the Friesens to bridge the gap between those with too much and those with too little, helping lift people out of poverty.
The foundation is pleased to be able to administrate the fund and facilitate grants from it.
“The foundation acts as a place to create collaboration with businesses and people in the community,” noted board president Barb Neufeld. “It’s our mission as a foundation to identify, support, and enhance the quality of life in our community, and we feel like we’re doing that through these partnerships.”
