The memory and legacy of Georgina Bassett, an Anglican minister who passed away in 2014, has been honoured with the first presentation of a grant to a community organization.
On July 21, St. Andrew's Anglican Church presented the $5,000 grant to the Karuna Group, which offers support to cancer survivors.
Rev. Francis Delaplain noted the church had received nine applications for the Georgina Bassett Honorary Community Grant, and he said there were a lot of good ideas.
However, he said the three-person selection committee – of which he was not a part – saw the importance of having a group of cancer survivors to support each other.
"We just recognized that is something that this community can really benefit from," he said of the Karuna Group. "And then we also recognized that they were such a small group that this donation would make a significant difference in what they were able to do."
Plus, Delaplain said it was very fitting the first Georgina Bassett Honourary Community Grant went to a cancer support group, because she passed away from cancer herself.
The Karuna Group was formed in 2017 by cancer survivor Kelsey McGinley.
She created a Cancer Sharing Circle where survivors and their family members could offer support and encouragement to each other.
"My vision is to have a safe, welcoming, compassionate and confidential environment for people to gather and share anything cancer related, to receive support, feel connected and share their experiences," McGinley told The Hub at the time.
St. Andrew's Anglican Church especially remembers Bassett as the driving force of its thrift store, which was renamed Georgina's Place after her passing.
She was also the first person of Slavey heritage to be ordained an Anglican priest.
The grant was presented at a community celebration barbecue on the lawn of St. Andrew's Anglican Church on July 21.
"The idea behind the barbecue more than anything was just we recognize at St. Andrew's and Georgina's Place – and especially Georgina's Place – we survive because of Hay River support," Delaplain explained. "It's all volunteer support going into the thrift store. The donations are all donated by this community. And so we just recognized that this community plays a huge role in keeping us sustainable. And that was the impetus behind giving the $5,000 to a community organization and that's why we wanted to just have a barbecue celebrating this community."
About 100 people attended the barbecue.
Delaplain said his church would like to make an annual presentation of the Georgina Bassett Honourary Community Grant.
"What we want to do is just explore different ways of doing it, whether one year we did five $1,000 grants," he said. "We want to be creative in the way that we're giving out money, but I think we loved the process of celebrating it and doing it as a community and inviting all of Hay River to be a part of it."
The minister noted that the church already donates between $10,000 and $15,000 every year to various community causes.