Lakeland Co-op Donates $6,250 to Cold Lake Library Reading Garden

Co-op is protecting, beautifying and enhancing spaces across Western Canada, including Cold Lake.

In May, Co-op asked Western Canadians to nominate the spaces they love in their community as part of this year’s Co-op Community Spaces contest. From thousands of entries, Co-op selected four winners — one in every western Canadian province — including Leslie Price, who nominated the Cold Lake Public Library Reading Garden.

For her efforts, Price received $1,000 from Co-op. Her prize also includes a $6,250 donation to the Cold Lake Public Library, which will help enhance its reading garden. In total, Co-op is providing $25,000 to the four spaces nominated by contest winners.

“Our Co-op proudly supports numerous local initiatives throughout the year, but this one is special, because it started with a call from the community,” said Mario Bouvier, General Manager of Lakeland Co-op. “Co-op Community Spaces is already making a real difference in dozens of communities across Western Canada, so we’re excited to see the program come to Cold Lake.”

Local initiatives receive $1.5 million

In addition to the contest winners, Co-op Community Spaces is providing a total of $1.5 million to 21 recreation, conservation and urban agriculture projects in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba in 2016. The donations are provided to local community organizations that applied for funding earlier this year.

This year’s Co-op Community Spaces projects include an aquatic centre in Vanderhoof, B.C., an educational kitchen in Calgary, a community greenhouse in Regina and a new arts and cultural centre in Winkler, Man.

Since launching in 2015, Co-op Community Spaces has provided approximately $2.5 million to 37 projects in Western Canada. The program is administered by Federated Co-operatives Limited on behalf of the more than 200 independent retail co-operatives that form the Co-operative Retailing System.

For more details about the Co-op Community Spaces program — including descriptions of this year’s recipients — see www.communityspaces.ca.

*Press Release from the Lakeland Co-op