Island Breeze received a $25,000 grant for their Sports Academy from the provincial government as part of the Arts, Culture, and Sport in Community funding.
Isi Masi, Ministry Director for Island Breeze, says they have a rugby club and have recently started a volleyball club.
The money will mainly help with purchasing sports equipment and helping kids who could otherwise not be able to join the club.
“Our hope is to give as many opportunities for kids out there that might need any subsidy for registration and also equipment.”
Masi says the extra money will be a great help in continuing to grow these programs.
“It's a huge help because we've been already doing it for the last two years, so just to have a little help and for us not to worry, that's great. And already, one of our girls wanted to participate and just to be able to tell them, ‘you don't have to worry about the cost, just come, it's going to be covered.’ It’s great to be able to give that opportunity.”
He says it is great to be recognized as a nonprofit organization by the provincial government, as he wasn’t sure they would receive funding.
“We tried it out and didn't know how it would go, and when we saw that we got approved that definitely gave us a thought that there might be other grants out there that we could apply for.”
Island Breeze hopes to see the Sports Academy grow.
“We're trying to see how we can impact the youth where they are spending most of their time, and I think sports is one of those great places where you develop leaders and give them values that they can carry on for the rest of their life. So sport is definitely a huge component of what we are wanting to do.”
With files from Dave Anthony
Fri, Jul 26, 8:00 PM
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