NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 23 February 2016
City of North Battleford to match Lighthouse “Coldest Night of the Year” Fund The City of North Battleford passed a resolution at Monday February 22, 2016 Council meeting to match the funds that were raised in the community during the Lighthouse’s “Coldest Night of the Year” walk on February 20th, 2016. Council agreed to donate $25,000 to the North Battleford Shelter on a one time basis to help them through the current funding crises. With this step the City is taking on a public leadership role to help the Lighthouse in North Battleford remain open during their efforts to secure long term, reliable core funding from the levels of Government that are responsible to pay for this service. “This is not a municipal responsibility, however the closure of the Lighthouse would be devastating for our community as we would return to the days of an unsure response to homelessness”, says Mayor Ian Hamilton. “The Lighthouse provides not only shelter and a meal for those in need but also can offer services such as addiction counselling and supported living that help fight the root causes of homelessness when they have their core funding secured,” explains Hamilton, “The Shelter is integral to our community and to our Community Safety Plan.” No other municipal program will be impacted by this donation as the funding for the matching $25,000 will be provided through the 6% increase in Provincial Revenue Sharing (Municipal Operating Grant) that was announced at the SUMA Convention in January which was not included in the 2016 City Budget. “The Coldest Night of the Year” was held on February 20th, 2016 to raise awareness about homelessness and to support the Lighthouse Shelters across Canada. North Battleford’s Lighthouse expectations to raise about $25,000 were exceeded by $5,000. About 150 people came out on February 20th, proving that the Lighthouse and its services is important to and well received by North Battleford’s residents.
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Caption: Mayor Ian Hamilton is symbolically presenting a cheque in the amount of $25,000 to Caitlin Glencross, Manager of the Lighthouse Serving the Battlefords.
For more information: Susanne Abe, Communication Coordinator, 306-445-1710
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