Augusta Township Recognizes Our Active Seniors and Volunteers
Augusta Matters by Mayor Doug Malanka
(As published in the South Grenville Journal – Thursday, November 19, 2020)
We have seniors that are quite active in our community as recreation volunteers, as committee members, as developers of land and housing, and I am proud of our many local 55+ entrepreneurs that run their own businesses as well.
Several of our senior business owners were recognized with nominations and awards during our recent Business of the Year event, in fields ranging from cattle farming and agriculture to septic maintenance and construction.
According to Statistics Canada’s 2016 census data, about 2,850 of our 7,350 residents (38.8%) are aged 55 and over. Our Economic Development & Tourism Committee discussed Augusta’s Golden Economy (AGE) at their November meeting as being “well-aged and engaged”.
There are a good number of our 55+ residents that saw a golden opportunity and have relocated to our Township with the intent of embarking on a second career and creating their dream job by starting a new business. Many seniors continue to choose to move to our modern rural township to enjoy a high quality of life without all of the stress, traffic, and expense often associated with big city life.
We have seniors in our community that work on farms, fix machinery, operate equipment, participate in our growing farmers’ market, and provide a wide variety of professional and consulting services. If you are a senior who runs a business (or plans to start a new business) in our community, even if it is just for 10 or 20 hours a week, please register in our online business directory, at: http://directory-augusta.leedsgrenville.com/
If you need any help with the sign-up process, our Economic Development Specialist (Myron Belej, at extension 101, mbelej@augusta.ca) will be happy to help you register and promote your services.
Plenty of Augusta’s seniors (and other residents) also enjoy volunteering to stay active and give back to our community. We are grateful to all of our volunteers and we will be hosting a 2020 Volunteer Appreciation Day event to say thank you on Saturday, December 5th, from 9am – 1pm.
This is the first event being coordinated through our new Community Development Committee, chaired by Councillor Tanya Henry, who I thank along with the Committee’s staff liaison, Nicole Walker, for their hard work to date. Each volunteer who registers in advance will be receiving a hot meal voucher and tickets redeemable at the Augusta Farmers’ Market, which will be running simultaneously at the MERC Hall in Maitland.
Local musician Sue Prosser will be providing outdoor entertainment from 11am-1pm. COVID-19 protocols will be in place, and masks will be mandatory inside the hall and in the tent. All Township volunteers are being asked to RSVP to Nicole Walker (at extension 110, nwalker@augusta.ca) in order to claim their tickets on the day of the indoor/outdoor event.
A hearty thanks to all of our dedicated local senior entrepreneurs and volunteers!