Field Law names fund recipients

By Steffanie Costigan - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on December 1, 2023.

With the Field Law Community Fund Program award of $75,000 having a record 151 applicants this year, the company has announced this year’s non-profit organizations which will receive a portion of that money.

A totally of 40,000 votes were made by the public for their favourite projects from the varying organizations.

“The public can vote on the ideas they want to see implemented in their community and they can vote on as many as they want. It provides the opportunity for the participants, the applicants to have a bit of a public platform, said managing partner Jeremiah Kowalchuk.

The program had 105,000 views on its voting page, which Kowalchuk termed “a very large number.

Winners were announced on Tuesday.

The grand prize recipient for southern Alberta was Made by Momma, an organization supporting more than 12,000 food insecure Calgarians each year. Their $10,000 award will go towards expanding a rooftop community garden atop of Southcentre Mall in Calgary.

Unison at Veiner Centre (Kerby Assembly) in Medicine Hat was awarded $7,500 for a senior-centred food security initiative while $4,000 went to Calgary Counselling Centre, $3,550 to Nordig Canada in Canmore and $3,000 to the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation.

In northern Alberta the grand prize of $8,000 was rewarded to Stepping Stones to Hope in Cold Lake which has operated a family violence shelter for more than 40 years. Their funding will go towards building a new facility to double the capacity of the shelter.

Autism Edmonton, Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, Zoe’s Animal Rescue Organization and BriarPatch Family Life Education Centre all received $5,000.

The Fielder’s Choice Award, chosen directly by Field Law members, went to Hospice Calgary in southern Alberta and Linking Generations Society of Alberta in northern Alberta. HomeBase Yellowknife was given the Fielder’s Choice Award for Northwest Territories. They all received $2,000.

The grand prize of $6,000 in Northwest Territories went to Sir John Franklin High School to fund STEM education opportunities such as its robotics classroom. The other recipients in Northwest Territories included $4,000 for artist Nicole Loubert and $3,000 for NWT SPCA.

“Field Law is thankful to all those who put a project forward for funding, and to everyone who voted for their favourite initiatives,” said Kowalchuk.

“(It’s) really satisfying for us. Because you know, there’s lots of great organizations to give money to, of course, but a lot of these ones are small enough, localized enough that we wouldn’t otherwise hear about them. So this is a great way for us to connect with some of these groups and make a positive impact.”

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