The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Northern Manitobans who become seriously ill face a plight that their southern counterparts do not. For days, weeks or months at a time, northerners requiring major medical care must uproot themselves and their families and stay in Winnipeg. Unless a family has a friend or relative in the city, accommodation costs can spiral out of control, heaping financial stress onto the newfound emotional stress. But now there is an option for northern and rural patients who need temporary, affordable housing in the Manitoba capital. It's called A Port in the Storm, and since the fall of 2012 it has been renting out 14 suites to out-of-town patients. 'The goal is not just to have a room, it's to have a community,' Port in the Storm volunteer Kory Eastman told the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce last week. Eastman, who is also chamber president, noted that the Port in the Storm complex currently shares space with a seniors' housing facility. The long-term goal is to construct a dedicated facility for patients complete with 40 suites and a $15-million budget. Lois (Bunny) Burke, another volunteer with the project, said Flin Flonners have been supportive of the charity. The Flin Flon Motorcycle Association, for instance, has contributed $7,500. Also at last week's chamber meeting, Dave Kendall of the Northern Neighbours Foundation detailed this northern charity's raison d'être. 'I think we're a pretty well-kept secret for a lot of people,' Kendall, a director with both Northern Neighbours and the chamber, told the chamber. Kendall noted that Northern Neighbours doles out grants to a 'long and diverse' list of projects, spending only the interest accumulated on cash donations, never the donations themselves. Projects Northern Neighbours launched in 1994 based on a matching grant challenge from the Winnipeg-based Thomas Sill Foundation. Northern Neighbours is also responsible for recommending which Flin Flon projects will benefit from up to $37,500 in annual grants from Manitoba's Moffat Family Fund. Kendall noted that this fall, Northern Neighbours and the Thomas Sill Foundation will partner to fund a youth philanthropy program at Hapnot Collegiate. Through the program, a student committee will decide how up to $3,500 a year will be spent on youth-oriented projects in Flin Flon. For now the program is funded for the next six years. After that, a decision will be made on whether to continue it. Among the past benefactors of Northern Neighbours grants: the Flin Flon and Creighton skateboard parks, Camp Whitney, local daycares and schools, and most of the parks in Flin Flon.
