Shelter Movers to hold fundraising event

Bill Atwood Observer Staff

SHELTER MOVERS

WATERLOO REGION,

Board of Director Applications for the Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation

The Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation is a non-profit Corporation that assists in the preservation of the heritage and culture for the Region of Waterloo. The Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation provides grants for investment in heritage-related endeavours and advises on a wide number of heritage issues throughout the Region.

This is an exciting time for the Foundation, as it completes a strategic review to consider how the role of our heritage and historic environment is evolving as we mature as a community, and to evaluate how it aligns with Regional Council’s strategic priorities, including Climate Action, Reconciliation, and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. The review aims to ensure grant funding is robust, transparent, equitable, and purposeful; meets the needs of a growing and diverse community; and supports the Region’s strategic objectives. Committing to set clear priorities, the Foundation will work to ensure its programs make meaningful and strategic impacts in the community based on known pressures on the historic environment and the heritage sector and complements the work of other heritage stakeholders in the Region.

Board of Director applications are available via website (www.wrhf.org), or email wrhf@regionofwaterloo.ca. The application deadline is May 31, 2023 at 4:30 p.m.

The By-laws for the Foundation provide for the election of ten members-at-large to its Board of Directors. As of the 2023 Annual Meeting, there will be three (3) vacancies to be filled for three-year terms. The Board of Directors currently meet at 5:30 p.m. on the 4th Tuesday of each month, except July, August and December. Currently, participation in all meetings is electronic. However, some meeting months may also have an in-person option.

Elections will be held at the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, June 7, 2023 at 5:30 p.m.

Meeting to be held in the Waterloo County Room/Electronically Advertised positions on a particular Board may be filled by current members whose terms have expired. All applicants will receive written notification about the result of their application.

Personal information is collected under the authority of the Municipal Act and will be used to determine suitability for appointment. Questions regarding the collection of personal information should be referred to the Office of the Regional Clerk at 519-575-4493 or regionalclerk@regionofwaterloo.ca.

A non-profit that aids residents leaving abusive domestic living situations, is holding its firstever fundraiser, Shelter Movers Shuffle, on May 6.

The organization founded its Waterloo Region chapter in December of 2002, and has since carried out 280 moves, including 59 so far in 2023. Each move costs around $250, said chapter director Courtney Waterfall.

“Fuel is getting more and more expensive. The funds go directly to help on those moves, whether it’s our rental vehicles, fuel, security, storage and the behind-the-scenes things that go together to make our moves happen,” Waterfall said.

The organization has received support from local businesses to help reduce their costs, Waterfall said.

“So our rental trucks, for example, Penske, have been wonderful to us. We have gotten donated storage units across the region from a variety of storage facilities. We work with a couple of security partners that donate their time to us when they can so that we don’t have to pay for security. And we try to have a variety of locations for our storage units so that the travel time between locations is shorter as well, so we’re not using as much fuel.”

As a new organization in the area, it is trying to raise awareness of their presence in the region as well as address any stigmas around talking about intimate partner violence, Waterfall added.

“There can be a lot of shame around it or embarrassment, so people that are impacted by it but just are afraid to speak up about it.”

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