Garden City Seniors Association replacing doors

Posted on May 21, 2026 by admin

By Heather Cameron
Southern Alberta Newspapers

The Garden City Seniors Association in Magrath received a grant of $15,000 from the Community Foundation of Lethbridge and Southwestern Alberta on May 7 at the Community Foundation’s Spring 2026 Grant Celebration at CASA Lethbridge.

Blake Eves, who has been instrumental for the Seniors Society in obtaining these awesome resources, stated that the Magrath seniors have recently been able to offer an additional 20 hours per week of programmed activities, and with additional activities comes new people, some of which are using walkers and wheelchairs, which require a greater level of accessibility.   

“We recognized that our doors to enter the building are 40+ years old and never designed to accommodate persons with disabilities,” said Eves. “We applied to the Community Foundation for help purchasing and installing a wheelchair accessible door to better serve older challenged folks in our area.”

Eves says that the Garden Seniors City Association is a small club with only 109 members that works very hard to keep the lights on and function, but they are in no position to install an $18,000 door to help seniors into the building.

That said, Eves describes the grant as ‘an answer to a prayer.’

“Our board is very passionate about the Seniors we serve and strive to make the seniors center a fun, welcome and happy place to come visit with friends while participating in our wide range of activities,” said Eves. “I’m particularly sensitive to the accessibility issue as my Mom has. For the past 30 years, she has spent all of her awake time in a wheelchair. Moving about in the city with my Mom presents significant challenges resulting in her not being able to participate in some events/activities as she isn’t able to get in the building. We are extremely grateful to the Community Foundation for their support and willingness to help seniors in our area.”