Food bank, playground and homelessness projects among winners of Aviva Community Fund competition

The Aviva Community Fund, the online community funding competition, announced its grand prize winners Tuesday, with insurer Aviva Canada donating $1 million to organizations promoting positive change in various communities across the country.

Of the 40 ideas entering the finals, causes ranged from creating storage space for Vancouver’s homeless population, to enhancing a high school field to make it more accessible to a growing Ontario community, to renovating a beloved camp in Quebec.

The 2014 Aviva Community Fund grand prize winners include:

• Restoring Golden Hall – Health benefits for all, Trepassey, NL
• Hope begins with a meal #SoulHarbour, Halifax, NS
• A home for the Joshua Group – Kathy’s wish, Saint John, NB
• Sauvons le Camp De La Salle, Saint-Alphonse-Rodriguez, QC
• A special needs playground for Ottawa, Ottawa, ON
• Heart of the community – Cambridge, ON (Broker Grand Prize winner, submitted by Stevenson and Hunt Insurance Brokers Limited)
• Klahine – a Goderich Lions Club camp, Goderich, ON
• Ashley Neufeld Softball Sports Complex, Brandon, MB
• Saint Andre Playground Project, Beaumont, AB
• Storage for the homeless, Vancouver, BC
• A new home for Lake Country Food Bank, Lake Country, BC
• Nootka Elementary School outdoor playground, Vancouver, BC

“It’s been another fantastic year with so many ideas submitted for positive change,” Debora Hendrickson, Aviva’s senior vice president of customer and marketing said in the announcement.

“The winners selected by our judging panel represent initiatives that really resonated with Canadians and we couldn’t be more thrilled that the $1 million fund is being shared by so many worthy causes.”

Grand prize winners were selected by a panel of independent judges after millions of votes were cast by Canadians during the four voting rounds. The remaining 28 finalists each received $5,000 towards their cause or a registered charity of their choice doing similar work.

Sixty wildcard prizes were also drawn from the pool of ideas that reached 1,000 or more votes in each of the three qualifying rounds and each winner receives a $1,000 prize.

For the full list of prize winners, visit. 

Only a few minutes before the big announcement @CTVCanadaAM @jeffhutcheson @tinadaenzer!! #AvivaCF #CanadaAM pic.twitter.com/zvNk7QfjZD

— Aviva Community Fund (@avivacf) January 27, 2015

St Benedict’s CSS celebrating after getting their 100k cheque from @avivacf to redo their track @CTVCanadaAM pic.twitter.com/JHP8YTZ4oh

— Emily English (@emjenglish) January 27, 2015

We had high hoops, and we got it!! Thanks @avivacf @CTVCanadaAM @jeffhutcheson $100,000 is #WCDSBAwesome pic.twitter.com/mBVtF34ItU

— St. Benedict C.S.S. (@StBenedictCSS) January 27, 2015

One more big announcement! Stay tuned… @CTVCanadaAM @jeffhutcheson @tdaenzer pic.twitter.com/QmlcuUM0yD

— Aviva Community Fund (@avivacf) January 27, 2015

And that’s a wrap! Congratulations to all of our amazing winners!! #AvivaCF @CTVCanadaAM @tdaenzer @jeffhutcheson pic.twitter.com/aVMq7YbWaX

— Aviva Community Fund (@avivacf) January 27, 2015

Congrats @FirstUnitedDTES on the #Avivacf win & earning well deserved support for ur storage facility! https://t.co/uCGKey8jjy

— BC Housing (@BC_Housing) January 27, 2015