$500 grant will support sports at Tillsonburg Senior Centre
Article content
The Tillsonburg Senior Centre recently received a $500 grant from the Oxford Community Foundation to help seniors enjoy amateur sports.
News of the grant came at the start of seniors month, during a breakfast announcement Tuesday morning at the Tillsonburg Senior Centre.
“We’re here to celebrate senior’s month and we’re excited to be involved,” said Keith Hudson, executive director for the Oxford Community Foundation. “The Tillsonburg Senior Centre applied through the foundation for a grant that was made available through the 2001 Canada Games endowment.”
The Oxford Community Foundation is an organization that oversees endowment funds and makes grants available to community organizations and charities based in Oxford County.
“We called for grants and the Tillsonburg Senior Centre was one of the groups that asked for a grant and we were able to supply them with $500 to refurbish the historic pool table,” said Hudson. “Our board decided that it would be designated to senior amateur sports.”
The grant money was received earlier this spring at the end of April and was put to use in late May to refurbish the pool table at the Tillsonburg Senior Centre.
“Our board decided that this grant would be geared towards the senior population, since the majority of grants go out to youth,” explained Hudson. “We felt that amateur sports for seniors is very important in our community.
“Our grants committee looks at the whole issue of how much the grant money is going to be used in the community, and we were quite impressed by the amount of usage this particular pool table has and the numbers that are involved in the Senior Centre here in Tillsonburg.”
Senior Centre president Gerry Carter knows it will be put to good use.
“I think it’s wonderful,” said Carter. “Particularly when you have a table that’s 100 years old and it’s still here, still operating.
“I think it’s just another asset that we have here, which I think other places just don’t have.”
Nancy Boutin, manager of the Tillsonburg Senior Centre, said the newly refurbished pool table is a popular pastime for many who use the centre and will help keep seniors active and enjoying life.
“With almost 600 members, sometimes the money has to go other places,” said Boutin. “Sometimes things like this get shuffled down the priority list but it’s groups like the Oxford Community Foundation that make it possible for us to keep our facilities in good shape.”