Provincial funding is allowing the Friends of Ecological and Environmental Learning (FEEL) to bring a version of its Children’s Water Festival on the road – to reach more children and youth across Haliburton, Muskoka and Kawartha Lakes.
On July 10, MPP Laurie Scott joined a team of volunteers with FEEL to celebrate the launch of its mobile Children’s Water Festival programs.
Last week’s event was largely thanks to two grants, totaling $79,000, from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF). The first was a six-month, $13,000 capital grant awarded last fall, and the second is a two-year, $66,000 resilient communities fund grant that started this spring.
“Our government is proud to help Friends of Ecological and Environmental Learning extend these important water care experiences to even more regional families, schools, and communities in the years to come,” said Scott, MPP for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock “Together, we are building a future where children and communities understand, appreciate, and protect our precious water resources.”
With the OTF capital grant, FEEL purchased a trailer that will store and transport some of its Children’s Water Festival activity centres to public and partner events. With the resilient communities fund grant, over the next two years, FEEL will build its resiliency and sustainability through strategic planning, updating its fundraising strategies, and adapting its Children’s Water Festival programs to reach more children and youth across Haliburton, Muskoka and Kawartha Lakes, FEEL’s Kara Mitchell and Stephanie Field said.
For more than 15 years, FEEL has delivered an annual outdoor Children’s Water Festival, a fun day camp about water stewardship, for more than 1,000 elementary school children of the Trillium Lakelands District School Board region.
Through the pandemic, they needed to adapt funding and program approaches. Initial trials of offering a few of their hands-on activities at public events, and in partnerships with local libraries and the Kushog Lake Association, went well. Mitchell and Field said the trailer, additional staff time, and fundraising involved in the OTF investment promise to carry important water care-inspiring experiences to more regional families, schools, cottagers and regional communities in the seasons and years to come.
FEEL’s mission is to advance the public’s awareness, understanding and appreciation of ecosystems through education. Their volunteers from within regional communities, secondary and post-secondary programs enjoy learning exchanges and connections in giving back to water that gives life. To get involved, find them online or contact info@ waterheroes.ca.
