Elephant Thoughts Logo (Image from Elephant Thoughts Website)
A new outdoor education facility has been built by Elephant Thoughts Education Outreach after receiving a $89,500 Ontario Trillium Foundation grant.
On April 20, MPP for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Bill Walker met with representatives from the registered charity to see the results of the grant received in 2019. Elephant Thoughts provides equitable and inclusive programming, while honouring community relationships and welcomes individuals with disabilities.
Walker’s office says the grant was used to renovate and construct an outdoor education facility to support current programming, including culinary arts, food literacy, and overall healthy active living. The funds assisted in purchasing kitchen equipment and the costs of the renovations.
Walker’s office says the Kimbercote Centre, located in Beaver Valley, will provide accessible teaching areas and accessible washrooms to enable youth to learn while being in nature.
Walker says, “this Ontario Trillium Foundation Capital Grant is an investment in the long term sustainability of the Kimbercote Education Centre by renovating and updating the teaching kitchen and washroom facilities. The funding will provide a more modern, efficient and safe environment for the children and youth who attend, as well as the staff and volunteers. It is my hope the funding will help the organization to recover from the impacts of Covid, and wish them much continued success.”
Executive Director of the centre Jeremy Rhodes adds the impact of the grant has been extremely significant to the organization.
“It will enable us to increase our capacity to serve underrepresented youth and has been a huge catalyst for cultivating and attracting partnerships for shared use of the land and the facility,” says Rhodes.