Smaller South Okanagan communities benefit from age-friendly grants

PENTICTON – The province is helping 28 B.C. communities help their resident seniors stay mobile, active and socially connected.

Okanagan Falls and Keremeos are two local communities benefitting from  2016 Age-friendly Community Planning and Project grants.

Keremeos has been awarded $20,000 to help the village build an age-friendly outdoor fitness park to provide additional fitness opportunities for seniors in the community. Planning for the park will involve Keremeos’ older members of the community. The project complements Keremeos’ objectives as an age-friendly community.

The Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen will receive $20,000 towards an age-friendly building and benches project in Okanagan Falls. The money will be used to make bus stops and businesses in Okanagan Falls more accessible to local seniors. The grant will also be used to build an incentive program to encourage local business to become more age-friendly, priorities identified in the community’s age-friendly plan.

The grant program is provided through a partnership with the provincial government and the Union of B.C. Municipalities. The 2016 grants were awarded to communities who focused on projects centred on accessibility, elder abuse prevention, dementia, and non-medical home support.

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