Oct 17: Galiano Island Environmental...
The Galiano Island Environmental Education Project Wins Award
Galiano Island, October 17, 2001 - The Galiano Conservancy Association has received a $10,000 EnviroFund from Vancity Credit Union for its "From the Forest to the Sea Watershed Project" for students from Galiano Island, Victoria and the Lower Mainland.
As a part of its ongoing education program, the Galiano Conservancy Association, in conjunction with SeaChange Marine Conservation Society, will coordinate and provide a watershed education pilot program to the Galiano Community School and to school and youth groups from Vancouver and Victoria. Students from kindergarten to Grade 8 will participate in hands-on, outdoor field trips.
The field trips will focus on the Georgia Basin Eco-region, where only five per cent of the area's original forest habitat remains. The project will provide youth with a basic understanding of watershed ecology, the impact humans have on it, and the tools needed for positive environmental change in watershed areas through habitat monitoring and restoration training.
The Galiano Conservancy Association is one of five organizations to receive a total of $80,000 in EnviroFund grants this year in the communities Vancity serves.
Vancity's EnviroFund was established in 1990 to support local community initiatives which address specific environmental concerns and has awarded more than $802,000 since then. All three of Vancity's VISA cards (the Vancity EnviroFund VISA, Vancity Travel VISA and the Vancity Gold VISA) support the EnviroFund, with a minimum of five per cent of VISA card profits donated to the fund each year.
Vancity is Canada's largest credit union with $7.3 billion in assets, 271,000 members, and 39 branches throughout Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Victoria. Vancity owns Citizens Bank of Canada, serving members across the country by telephone, ATM, and the Internet. Both Vancity and Citizens Bank are guided by a commitment to corporate social responsibility, and to improve the quality of life in the communities where we live and work.