By Marelle Reid

Mission Record

A round of applause went up at municipal hall Monday when council unanimously approved funding for a seniors' program facing funding cuts.

A one-time $6,000 grant has been awarded to Mission Community Services Society (MCSS) to maintain the Friendly Visitors Program, which provides weekly in-home support for the elderly.

The program matches volunteers with mentally and physically isolated seniors who are not ready or eligible for assisted living.

The Fraser Health Authority announced last month that funding for the program will be cut as of Sept. 30, leaving MCSS scrambling to secure alternative funding sources.

The society has applied for emergency funding from several organizations to make up the $10,000 deficit in this year's budget.

Along with $3,000 from other organizations, the district's grant will keep the program going through next spring.

Council expressed strong support for the Friendly Visitors program, which has been running here for the past 16 years.

"We're developing a safe and inclusive community, and seniors are a part of that," said Councillor Heather Stewart. "Their safety is of paramount concern to me, so voting for that was a no-brainer. When you're talking about health and safety, for some of those seniors it's a matter of life and death, so it's important to have visitors monitoring their welfare."

About 57 seniors were assisted through the Friendly Visitors Program last year, and in the last three years requests for this service has increased by 54 per cent, said MCSS executive director Tony Lapointe.

There is no other visitation program in the community like this, he said.

In another victory for seniors' programming, council approved a $3,000 grant for the Busy Bus run by Mission Association of Seniors Housing (MASH).

The Busy Bus provides transportation for seniors in the community who no longer drive.

Council voted unanimously Monday in favour of the one-time grant to help with fueling the bus and also to provide secure parking free of charge at the public works complex.