Nelson Cares Room to Live Campaign receives cash infusion from Kootenay Co-op
By Contributor
The Room to Live Campaign is off to a great start! Following on the heels of their successful launch at the Capitol Theatre in mid‐November, the affordable housing campaign has received another significant financial donation‐‐this Rome from the business community.
The Kootenay Co‐op is making a $15,000 commitment to the Room to Live project, disbursing $5,000 per year over three years to complete the renovation of one of the affordable housing units.
“Our membership has expressed a real commitment to the vitality of the downtown core for as long as we’ve had a storefront,” says Marketing & Outreach manager Jocelyn Carver.
“The Nelson Cares Room to Live Campaign has handed us an ideal opportunity to make good on that commitment and help make sure rental housing in the downtown is affordable. We’re excited to be supporting this made‐in‐Nelson solution and we encourage any business that has the resources to support the campaign.”
The Kootenay Co‐op is also making it easy for their members and customers to donate personally to the campaign. Throughout the holiday season, they are selling decorative holiday cards and donating 100% of the proceeds to the Room to Live Campaign.
The cards cost $10, $25 and $50 and are available in three different designs. “Our members really know how to get behind great campaigns like this,” says Carver, “Last year, they bought $1000 worth of our ‘Giving Cards’…we’re hopeful we can do just as well this year.”
“The Kootenay Co‐op mission of community involvement falls hand in hand with Nelson CARES vision of a healthy and inclusive community where complete respect for all individuals is an ordinary, everyday occurrence,” added Ron Little, Nelson CARES Chair.
“We are very proud of the way in which our local Co‐op is supporting sustainable and affordable housing by making it possible to refurbish a unit at Ward Street Place. This is an investment that will last for 50 years,”
The Room to Live Campaign has already raised $190,000 of the $690,000 goal via contributions from NDCU, RDCK, City of Nelson, Lois and Bruce Morrison through an Osprey Foundation grant, donations from individual community members, fundraising & events.
These funds will be used to preserve and maintain Ward Street Place as an important stock of affordable housing.
Ward Street Place receives no public funding from the provincial or federal government; it is truly a project of Nelson CARES and the community.
“Ward Street Place provides housing to those living in poverty, many who have escaped homelessness; it is also a vibrant part of our downtown commercial corridor. In this way it is a unique social enterprise and reflective of the caring nature of our community,” said Jenny Robinson, Nelson CARES Executive Director.
They raised $16,000 at their recent launch on November 14 and are asking the community to support the project. For more information regarding the Room to Live campaign, visit roomtolive.ca or call 250‐352‐6011, ext 17 for information.
Photo Caption: NCARES receives first installment cheque ($5000) of three-year $15,000 commitment to Room To Livecampaign. From left, Paula Sobie, Kootenay Co-op board member, Jocelyn Carver, Kootenay Co-op Marketing & Outreach manager, Jenny Robinson, NCARES Executive Director and Lisa McGeady, Room To Live campaign coordinator. — Submitted photo
