Another year, another round of innovative, creative, and inspiring projects! The 2022 Inspiration Grants have been selected, which will have impacts across a broad spectrum: parents looking to feed their infants, students seeking land-based knowledge, those with congenital heart disease, and those seeking to connect with nature.
The grants are offered with the goal of supporting the dreams of front-line staff across the network. Their curiosity, their passion and their commitment often leads many of them to seek out new ideas and concepts, which the grants help to bring alive by providing crucial funding.
New for this year was the Green Inspiration Grant, which sought to expand on the principles outlines by Pope Francis in Laudato Si. The document, sent to Bishops in the Catholic Church, focuses on care for the natural environment and all people, as well as our interconnectivity.
“We wanted to take the time to explore how we could support this important call to action from the Pope,” explains Paul Vermette, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Réseau Compassion Network. “We created a grant category where our members could apply for up to $50,000 to fund a project that would align with this mission. We weren’t sure if organisations would be interested, but we received a great selection of ideas and submissions to choose from. Our grant selection committee was very inspired by the projects.”
We congratulate all those who submitted applications, and look forward to seeing what important changes the grants will bring to life.
A brief summary of each selected grant recipient is below:
- Marymound’s Great Green Innovation is a project that will see the creation of a permanent four-season land-based learning structure for Marymound’s supported youth. Combining some incredible planning and design work by the team at Marymound, over the next several months they will build a large complex of connected greenhouses, which will harness solar, wind and compost energy. The green houses will house a large chicken coop, hanging gardens, as well as large fish tanks that will support a fertile aquaponics system. This addition will provide Marymound students with the ability to participate in land-based learning through twelve months of the year, providing valuable hands-on experience about local food production, medicines, sustainable energy and ecosystems as well as work experience.
- Flavie Centre’s Community Garden will take advantage of the opportunity of their new location along the Seine River and eager volunteers to develop a community garden which will benefit the people Flavie Centre supports. Participants will be provided with a garden plot for the season, gardening instruction and an opportunity to harvest the fruits of their labour. Aside from the benefits of sustainable, local food production and the opportunity to access fresh produce for the city’s low income families, the gardens provide the mental health benefits gardening has been proven to provide.
- Actionmarguerite’s Harvesting Well-Being in Nature will capitalize on some unique volunteer and student practicum opportunities to provide the roughly 600 residents with revitalized outdoor gardens and an opportunity to reap the real health benefits of being in nature. Many of us take for granted our ability to go outside for a walk, or to tend to a garden. For the people that Actionmarguerite supports this has only been possible within the confines of the grounds of their facilities for the past two years. Spread among Actionmarguerite’s three locations, the grant monies will be combined with the strengths of volunteers, families and activities staff to provide a sustainable and enriching experience for the residents for years to come.
- Youville’s Peer Infant Feeding Support Program aims to create equity for families who wish to feed their babies human milk but face barriers because of their race, income, or social location. There is a higher incidence of discontinuation of human milk feeding among BIPOC families, families with low income, as well as families experiencing food insecurity. Community based peer support has been proven as an effective means of increasing the breast/chestfeeding. With the help of incredible volunteers which helped propose the plan, and community partners across Winnipeg, the Youville team will replicate a program that has been successful in Waterloo, Ontario for roughly twenty years. This project’s future sustainability is also bright as it shows to public health the promise to reach a group of parents currently underserved.
- St. Boniface Hospital’s Exploration Grant award will work with families and patients with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) to better understand why the transition to adult care is at such a high risk for a lapse in care. This transition involves navigating a new hospital and a new healthcare team. Young adult patients are now expected to manage this on their own as caregivers are not as able to be involved. To date, research has involved patients with CHD and their caregivers as research subjects rather than inviting them in as co-researchers (“patient partners”) driving research studies. The purpose of this innovative work is to collaborate with and consult CHD patients and their caregivers to ensure they have a voice in the development of this transition program from pediatric to adult specialized CHD care.