Third or fourth place are two possible options for South Canoe school, come July 2.
The voting closed Sunday, June 23 for the ‘BCAA Play Here’ funding, which provides money for ‘play spaces’ around the province that are in need of an update.
“When it closed we were in fourth position, which would give us $30,000 – which would be really exciting,” said school principal Isabelle Gervais on Monday.
She says the final results are not automatically what was showing as the voting closed, “so we’ll have to wait till July 2nd and see.”
At one point, Salmon Arm was within 89 votes of the third-place finalist, she says.
“Our community did a lot of work. We’re still very happy… We really want to thank everybody for voting and supporting us. It was just amazing.”
On June 3, BCAA announced South Canoe school is one of six finalists competing for one of three new “play spaces” worth $100,000. The Outdoor Learning School’s entry is for “The Beehive,” a project that would see substantial renovation and upgrades to the school’s kitchen facility.
The three finalists with the highest votes receive $100,000 each while fourth, fifth and sixth receive $30,000, $20,000 and $10,000 respectively.
“Revitalizing our kitchen will allow us to continue growing our current food programming and work towards our long-term goal of having a garden-to-table school-wide lunch program for students,” states the school’s entry. “In this journey, there will be opportunity to connect with local farmers, food producers, non-profits, community members and chefs.”
“The kitchen will provide opportunity for local community groups and non-profits to run Community Kitchens, canning workshops or after school programs such as Cook It, Try It, Like It or Foodskills for Families. It will expand our capacity to have community potlucks. Finally, small-scale food producers will be able to use the space to produce food for the community.”
Read more: Letter - Salmon Arm student wants your support for school kitchen
Read more: Providing a taste of the Shuswap
Read more: Shuswap Food Action Society partners with local farms for open tours
BCAA explains what’s meant by play spaces.
“Play spaces can be more than just playgrounds – it could be a community garden, outdoor classroom, basketball court, youth program facility or even a music room – if it’s a place to play, gather and learn, we want to know how it can be improved and how it will impact your community.”
@SalmonArm
marthawickett@saobserver.net
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