Coralee Oakes, Shirley Bond, Stu Ballantyne, and Mike Morris, present cheque to  Pat and Nancy Harris-photo 250news

Prince George, B.C.- Backed by a wall of volunteers in their famous green jackets, there were two announcements in Canada Games Plaza in Prince George this morning aimed at boosting hosting events and para-athletes.

Coralee Oakes, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development along with Shirley Bond, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Responsible for Labour, have announced the Province is developing a 5 year hosting strategy to help communities and organizations land those events. Along with the strategy, Oakes announced a $250 thousand dollar one time funding opportunity called EventHostBC to encourage small events that will boost volunteer capacity.

Non profts will be able to apply for up to $5 thousand dollars on a first come first served basis for new events, or to help existing events that are not eligible for other money from the province.

But it was Shirley Bond’s presentation which was greeted with both applause and tears of gratitude. She talked about the athleticism of the wheelchair basketball players who competed at the Canada Winter Games, and read from a letter that requested funds to help purchase more of the special wheelchairs for that sport, and equipment for the development of sledge hockey programs.   To Pat and Nancy Harris,   parents of Avril Harris a wheelchair basketball star, she presented a cheque for $25 thousand dollars,   money that can be used to leverage more dollars from the para-equipment program.  The Harris’ accepted the cheque on behalf of the Prince George Titans School Program.