Wasaya Group fundraising for new DFC Living Centre

Wasaya Group raised $13,340 during a Dec. 5 fundraising benefit dinner for the Dennis Franklin Cromarty Living Centre and Youth Centres Thunder Bay.
“This is more of an awareness event so I didn’t expect as much turnout,” said Tom Kamenawatamin, Wasaya Group’s president and CEO. “I realize a lot of people didn’t realize they would be making donations (tonight), so they will be contacting us tomorrow and the next few days to make their donations.”
Held to launch a fundraising campaign for the two initiatives, the fundraising benefit dinner featured the performances of Shy-Anne Hovorka, Robin Ranger band and comedian Moccasin Joe as well as the unveiling of Wasaya Dowland’s design artists’ concepts for the DFC Living Centre.
“That is the design we are working with, based on the recommendations of the students of what they would like to see,” Kamenawatamin said. “It’s going to be an expensive building but it is worthwhile to do the design according to their expectations.”
Kamenawatamin said the business plan deadline for the Dennis Franklin Cromarty Living Centre project is Jan. 17 and the design deadline is at the end of March.
“Once we have our business plan, then we will get seriously into campaigning, fundraising, talking to government and other funding organizations,” Kamenawatamin said, noting current plans call for the building to be completed by the end of 2014.
Kamenawatamin said the idea for the Dennis Franklin Cromarty Living Centre was developed after he was contacted by some of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation communities about the loss of seven students who had been pursuing their secondary school education in Thunder Bay over the past 10 years.
“It seemed to them that nothing was being done, either by the federal government, provincial government of any First Nations government,” Kamenawatamin said. “So the concern was from the parents of the children that had to come to Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School.”
After taking with some of the concerned parents and the Wasaya Group board of directors, Kamenawatamin agreed to look into the situation, including a number of surveys that had been conducted but were sitting on the shelf.
“I came across (about 70) recommendations from the students,” Kamenawatamin said. “We were looking at the recommendations and suddenly it hit us that the answers were in those 70 recommendations from the students themselves.”
Kamenawatamin said the recommendations from the students are valid because the students are the ones who live day-to-day with the issues.
“They are the students that lost their personal friends and their colleagues,” Kamenawatamin said. “With that in mind, we sat down and categorized the recommendations and prioritized them. Out of the prioritization, we came up with three main items that we needed to address almost immediately.”
Kamenawatamin said the Dennis Franklin Cromarty Living Centre was one of the main items they prioritized.
“Right now the students are being billeted in homes right across the city,” Kamenawatamin said. “The students don’t have vehicles to move from the school to their home and a lot of them don’t have bus fares or any type of funds for taxi fares and so forth.”
The fundraising benefit dinner was held to follow up on the Wasaya Group’s Nov. 1 opening of the Youth Centres Thunder Bay space in the Victoriaville Centre. The fundraiser was video-streamed live from the Valhalla Inn and video from the event can be found on Youtube.
Donations can be made online to the Dennis Franklin Cromarty Living Centre and Youth Centres Thunder Bay projects through Wasaya Group’s registered charity at www.weecheewaywin.com.