Waterloo - The City of Waterloo’s Heritage Resources department has received some much needed funding from the federal government to help with the move to its new location at Conestoga Mall.

Heritage Resources has been granted $86,000 from the Museums Assistance Program, which aims to ensure Canadians have access to their country’s diverse cultural heritage.

That funding will assist in covering the costs of purchasing new artifact storage units, moving the collection from the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery to the mall, and assisting with a security system and wireless environmental monitoring equipment.

Karen VandenBrink, who manages the Heritage Resources department, said the city is extremely grateful for this endorsement from the federal government.

"We are all sustained by a place that is important to us – a place that identifies our community and captures its memories,” VandenBrink said. “The new Waterloo Museum will share our special stories and serve as inspiration to those who follow after us, and this funding will assist us to get it off the ground.”

The city’s heritage collection has been stored at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery for the past decade, with limited opportunities for its artifacts – which are from the former Seagram Museum and related to the history of Waterloo – to be displayed. The collection will move into its new home in Conestoga Mall over the next few months, and is scheduled to open to the public in the fall of 2009.