Governments shower cash on prominent charities

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Winnipeg Sun, Saturday May 30, 2009
Reproduced with permission.

Two prominent Winnipeg charitable institutions have set their sights on dramatic facelifts, with moves to enlarged or renovated facilities to give them far more room to serve the city's less fortunate.

The ambitions of Winnipeg Harvest and the United Way's local division stepped closer to reality yesterday when Ottawa and the province showered them with millions of dollars.

After 25 years at leased space in a Donald Street building, the United Way of Winnipeg is eager to move by next summer to a $10-million, three-storey complex it's planning to build on Main Street at Alexander Avenue.

"It's pretty important that we make a statement about what we are," Allan Fineblit, the United Way's incoming chairman, said of the move to what many see as a seedy district. "Part of what we are is neighbourhood-building, and building on community."

The cash coming mainly under the federal Infrastructure Stimulus Fund is part of a wider injection of up to $177.5 million from Ottawa and the province for 29 projects.

The precise sums going into a half-dozen projects announced yesterday were not made clear, though Fineblit said the United Way is in line for about $6.7 million to give its 60 employees and hundreds of volunteers more space.

Harvest executive co-ordinator David Northcott said the food bank will likely receive at least $2.5 million, allowing it to "lever" more funds. If successful, he said, Harvest will upgrade and expand its 30,000-sq.-ft. Winnipeg Avenue warehouse or move.

Other organizations benefiting are a Salvation Army facility, a planned Punjab Cultural and Seniors Centre and two performing-arts and cultural complexes -- Winnipeg's Manitoba Centennial Centre and Brandon's Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium.

Premier Gary Doer said Centennial Concert Hall, which opened in 1967, re quires lighting and stage upgrades as well as improvements to its courtyard.