Noon News Update for May 20 2020

📷 The fund is open for applications / via Community Foundations Canada

NANAIMO—More than a million dollars in federal funding is about to be distributed to charitable and non-profit organizations in central and northern Vancouver Island. Applications are now open for the Canada Emergency Community Support Fund. It will assist organizations that provide immediate essential service to those affected by COVID-19. A recent survey found two-thirds of non-profits have had to reduce in-person services because of COVID-19, at the same time, they're seeing a doubling of demand for those services. The groups say much of their fundraising has been curtailed because of a ban on gatherings of large groups, The federal funds are meant to help those groups remain viable during the pandemic. The United Way will distribute close to $905,000 dollars, with $360,000 earmarked for the greater Nanaimo region. The Nanaimo Foundation will distribute a further $167,000 dollars. The Nanaimo Foundation plans to start writing cheques as early as next week as applications come in, but the United Way has decided to set a June 15th deadline, and then decide which organizations will receive funding.

The Minister of Social Services and Poverty Development has declared victory in moving all of the people who have been living in encampments in Vancouver and Victoria. Shane Simpson says people living in Oppenheimer Park were moved to hotels and other housing two weeks ago. In Victoria, the movie took a little longer. Simpson says hotels rooms have now been secured for 340 people in Victoria, the last of whom will be relocated today. The Ministry says wrap-around support services will be available 24/7 at the sites, which includes the recently purchased Comfort Inn on Blanshard Street. In Nanaimo, however, no hotel rooms have been secured. Instead, the province has worked out a deal with the city of Nanaimo, to provide 35 emergency shelter spaces, no separate rooms, at the city's The Community Service Building. However, it will not open until June the 1st. Simpson says discussions are ongoing to try to find separate accommodation for the city's homeless.

Parents and students who have questions about the provincial plan to open classes to part-time instruction can ask them at a virtual town hall meeting tonight. The Minister of Education and the President of the BC School Trustees Association will take questions starting at 7:15 on the provincial government's Facebook page. Parents in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district were sent a questionnaire last week, asking if they plan to send their children back to school when in-class instruction begins on June the 1st. Children in Kindergarten to grade five will receive 2-3 days of in-class instruction per week while kids in Grades 6 to 12 will go to class once per week. However, the plan is voluntary and all students will continue to be able to access online classes.

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Lisa Cordasco

Senior Reporter and News Director — Lisa is responsible for creating the station's first morning news current affairs show on CHLY. She is also deeply involved in training and mentoring student and citizen journalists who volunteer their time at the station. Before joining CHLY, Lisa spent 35 years in various roles at CBC Radio, from host to reporter. Her passion for journalism and radio has led her to Nanaimo, where she intends to provide CHLY listeners with news they can use, in an alternative radio environment. Her other not-so-secret passion is costuming for any occasion.

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