It's been a busy week down at the Timothy Eaton Garden for members and folks who have popped by for Seniors Week. 

Every year a week is dedicated to celebrating the residents who are considered seniors, by shining a light on all that they've accomplished and the history they've helped to create. 

"We celebrate seniors for everything that seniors have done for us in paving the way to where we are today," explained Coordinator, Lori Friars. "Every time we lose a senior, we lose a breath of knowledge and expertise and we just want to celebrate what seniors have brought to us today."

The Timothy Eaton Garden has used the past six days to host various events, activities and presentations on what could be valuable to their members and other attendees. 

Unfortunately, it hasn't been all smiles down at the local senior centre; it's also been stressful for staff as they try to manage bills that are piling up. Friars said they used to have access to a large amount of government funding, but those avenues don't exist anymore. 

She added that seeing more grants or provincial funding would be a huge game changer for them, as well as seeing more people signing up for their programs. 

"I think it's a combination of a few things. Absolutely we need more members because the money that we get from memberships will help us with operating costs. Years ago when they first started this place there were grants that we received from the province; those grants over the years have been cut to the tune of about $50,000. I mean every month we feel it because that was money that we needed to operate," explained Friars. "It's very high operating costs here - about $10,000 a month - we need help or this place...I don't know how long a place can be around if we don't have more income coming in. We have rooms that we rent here, like meeting rooms and what not, we have a restaurant that we provide low cost meals to people at, but again those things - it just does not bring in enough money."

Some programs and memberships down at the Timothy Eaton Garden are as little as $2, and Friars hopes the low cost will attract more people to come out.