Wellington Rural Action Centre sees increase in visits and assistance to businesses and community

centre daction rurallowresSUMMERSIDE – June 23, 2016 – The number of in-person business visits to the Wellington Rural Action Centre (RAC) increased by 50 per cent over the past year, from 601 visits in 2014-2015 to 906 visits in 2015-2016, thereby proving that the centre is meeting an important community need.

RDÉE Prince Edward Island, the RAC’s host organization, disclosed the good news, along with the centre’s statistics during, its annual meeting in Summerside June 22.

RDÉE executive director Bonnie Gallant explained that the centre provides support to entrepreneurial and community development projects in the Evangeline and surrounding areas. Since it is the only bilingual centre on PEI, it also supports any Francophone project that could be addressed to any of the province’s other Rural Action Centres.

« More and more, people and organizations are requesting the centre’s services since it offers them lots of information as well as important and pertinent resources to help them with the development of their projects, » said Gallant.

The executive director added that several development and project officers from various federal and provincial departments regularly visit the centre to meet with regional clients.

A few more statistics for the year:
•    Number of new clients served during the year: 22
•    Returning clients served this year: 21
•    Business phone calls received: 461
•    Emailed information requests: 419

The RAC also partners with the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI in the organization of lunch-and-learns, workshops, information sessions and networking events. This year, the two organizations collaborated on 21 events that attracted some 500 participants.

Last winter, the RAC also forged a new partnership with the Greater Summerside Chamber of Commerce to help it deliver the Chamber’s Mentoring Program in French.

Each year, the centre’s client services officer, Velma Robichaud, helps deliver the Junior Achievement Program to the secondary-level entrepreneurial class at Evangeline School.

For the 2015-2016 year, the Wellington Rural Centre Centre was funded jointly by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the provincial Department of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Rural Development.

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CUTLINE: Bonnie Gallant, left, executive director of RDÉE Prince Edward Island, congratulates Velma Robichaud, client services officer at the Wellington Rural Action Centre, on the increasingly successful operation of the centre in the past year. The RDÉE is the RAC’s host organization.

 

For more information:

Velma Robichaud
Client services officer
Wellington Rural Action Centre
(902) 854-3439, Ext. 228
velma@rdeeipe.org