Community support for The Village at Canadore

Another major contribution for the Village at Canadore College.

The health and wellness facility fundraising campaign has received $200,000 from the Deacon family.

Mark Deacon says he and his partner Steve are strong believers in what the Village project is trying to accomplish.

“I really believe it is going to make a difference into how we train medical professionals in Canada period. It’s going to make my old age better because people will be trained differently,” he says.

Deacon says they made the contribution in honour of their fathers.

“Both of our dads worked extremely hard to make their communities better. We lost them both in the last little while. We wanted them to know their efforts did not go unnoticed,” Mark says.

The centre’s reception area will be known as the Deacon Family meeting place.

The Village is a collaborative approach to medical training integrating Eastern, Western and Indigenous practices.

Canadore president George Burton says they’re about half way to their $5 million community fundraising goal.

Phase One of the village plans to open in the fall and Burton says they’ve received over $6.5-million in funding from senior levels of government, $1-million from two private donors and the college is also contributing to the estimated $20-million project.