Submitted by Noreen Steinacher
This has been a rewarding year and yet a financially risky year for The Meeting Place. Normal sources of revenue for the not-for-profit sector are on hold and new support has to be engaged. We put a call out for business support at this crucial time and boy did we get some good response from our community. A big thank you goes out to Blue Heron Company, The Sweet Shop, Ivan Smith Outdoor Maintenance, Bruce Anchor Motel and Cruises and The Blue Bay Motel.
What are we doing and what’s open
So we have designed and supported the popular Good To Go Guided Meal Program to provide an interesting food opportunity for a whole range of people in the community – no cost barriers. Register for March on the website or call 519-596-2313. Take a look at the videos for cooking inspiration.
The Good to Go idea quickly jumped into a Good To Go Grad program, designed by students for students, with the support of the Bruce Peninsula District School. We’ll bring you more news of this at a later date. This project points to an unexpected outcome of the pandemic – local post secondary students studying at home on the Peninsula and TMP providing community/learning placement opportunities. We hope that some small efforts on our part help encourage young people to see the range of work opportunities on the Peninsula.
The Meeting Place continues to host the Food Bank Tuesday from 1-3 pm and Eat Local Grey Bruce co-op Thursdays from 10:30 – 11:30 am with curbside pick up.
This year is an interesting tax year. Call The Meeting Place at 519-596-2313 to see if you are eligible to participate in the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program if you have not used the service in past years. It’s a real benefit for many. For those already registered, drop off times are Wednesdays from 2-3pm and Thursdays from 9-10 am at The Meeting Place.
We are still being cautious about opening the recreation programs at TMP but are ready to do so if we hear interest from the community and issues of community safety remain stable. Specifically, if you are interested in working out at the mini gym at TMP (6 pieces of equipment) give us a call and we’ll assess the safety and capacity. Same with small groups meeting in person; we are waiting on trends and for now can support small groups meeting with our virtual pro Zoom application and hosting capacity.
The Spark project has several initiatives on the go; these are longer term developments but you can get a glimpse of the directions by going on The Meeting Place website tobermorymeetingplace.com and looking under Community/Spark project.
TMP website has been updated and we hope is now a go-to place for information and community participation.
Community Information & Resource Coordination (CIRC) is open and here to provide answers to your questions and system navigation – there is a lot still happening around getting through this stage of the pandemic, so if you need a friendly resource for anything on your mind call 519-596-2313. Staff are working from home some days so your call will be returned as soon as possible.
Stay active everyone.
