A few short weeks ago it was brought to the attention of The Friends of Ritchie Parkette that The Garfield Weston Foundation was sponsoring something called The Weston Family Parks Challenge. Essentially they are requesting proposals from community groups which if successful would provide up to $5 million in aggregate over a period of three-years to fund innovative park initiatives across the City of Toronto. With the assistance of Park People they will work with communities to generate a broad range of ideas to creatively fund, sustain and engage Toronto’s communities with their city parks and nature.
Some of our members jumped at the chance to fund items requested by the community but weren't in the City's capital budget. These were items like a new rink, a water box to help provide water in the winter to the rink, water play opportunities, a shed and other items to help facilitate kids and adults in enjoying the flora and fauna of the wilds of Ritchie Avenue. With a lot of hard work (huge shout-out to Alanna) our proposal was developed and submitted.
Many proposals were made to the Westons in Round 1 and very few made it to Round 2. I'm elated to report that we are one of the few. We will keep you updated as soon as we hear more. In the meantime, for your reading pleasure:
The full text of the proposal can be downloaded here.
Great news!
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