Municipality of Cumberland Mayor Murray Scott was joined by several councillors presenting thousands of dollars in financial support to community organizations throughout Cumberland County on Monday, July 10, 2023.
This year, the municipality is providing more than $800,000 in grants to organizations that include community groups, recreation organizations, schools and tourism groups.
The mayor visited Pugwash early in the morning to present cheques to community groups in the Pugwash and Wallace areas while in the afternoon he was joined by Deputy Mayor Mark Joseph and Coun. Angel McCormick in presenting cheques to groups at the Dr. Carson & Marion Murray Community Centre in Springhill.
Later in the day, he was joined by Coun. Carrie Goodwin in presenting cheques to organizations in the Parrsboro area and along the Fundy Shore.
“The work these organizations do in their communities is immeasurable,” Mayor Scott said. “The real heroes are the volunteers who work in the museums and community organizations from one end of Cumberland County to the other. The work these organizations and these volunteers do is incredible and it’s through their efforts that the Municipality of Cumberland is a wonderful place to live.”
The mayor said the municipality received more than $1.2 million in funding requests for 2023-24 and as much as it would like to fund every request to its full amount, tough decisions had to be made to ease the impact on the tax rate and ever-growing expenditures brought on by rising costs and inflation.
“We also understand the difficulty a lot of organizations have had raising money these last two to three years because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the mayor said. “We’re very pleased to be able to support the work that these organizations and their volunteers do in their communities.”
Among the grants was $100,000 for the Cliffs of Fundy Geopark as well as the first $50,000 instalment in a three-year commitment to support the construction of a new L.A. Animal Shelter building in Upper Nappan, $40,000 to support improvements to the playground at Cumberland North Academy elementary school in Brookdale and $20,000 to support the Parrsboro and Area Lions Club with the operation of the community arena.
The municipality is also supporting the Southampton Community Association with $20,000 for the redevelopment of a playground at the community centre while continuing its support of the Oxford Arena Association with a grant of $14,500 and is supporting Pugwash Ground Search and Rescue with $10,000 toward the purchase of new equipment.
For a complete list of grant recipients, please download pdf 2023-24 Grants to Organizations (142 KB) .