Dec 5 2006 Media Release

Vancouver, BC, December 5, 2006 – Vancity is distributing more than $275,000 – the most ever - to non-profit organizations through its annual enviroFund^TM program.

This year’s recipients include:

• BC Sustainable Energy Association - $40,000 for its school-based climate change learning program running in 150 schools in the Lower Mainland and Victoria;
• The Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC) - $40,000 for a promotional campaign to encourage the provincial government to explore sustainable transportation alternatives over highway expansion in the GVRD;
• Friends of Semiahmoo Bay - $25,000 to monitor, survey and restore crucial watershed and marine habitats in the Boundary Bay area;
• Vancouver Aquarium - $34,000 for an awareness raising program with restaurants, retail outlets and consumers about sustainable seafood;
• Burns Bog Conservation Society - $40,000 to complete the boardwalk and other research and educational initiatives to help protect the bog’s fragile ecosystem;
• Georgia Basin Ecological Assessment and Restoration Society - $26,230 to continue the Purple Martin recovery program in the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley and Greater Victoria;
• Evergreen - $40,000 to build capacity to address the threat of invasive plant species on public lands in Surrey, Vancouver and North Vancouver; and,
• Habitat Acquisition Trust - $30,000 to improve habitat and water quality within Rithet’s Bog in Greater Victoria by conducting an extensive educational and stewardship program with residents and businesses.

The enviroFund is funded by Vancity VISA, which donates five per cent of its annual profits from its suite of VISA card products to the program. The increase in this year’s grants, up from $250,000 last year - is due to Vancity VISA’s strong financial performance.

"It is wonderful to be able to support such a wide range of community projects, all working to protect and improve the local environment. We are proud to support them, and thank our VISA cardholders for this opportunity," says Vancity Board Chair Elain Duvall.

Since the program started in 1990, more than $1.7 million has gone to support environmental projects. For more information, visit or call 604.877.7620.

Vancity is Canada’s largest credit union, with $11.8 billion in assets, more than 345,000 members, and 46 branches throughout Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Victoria, as well as two Squamish Savings branches. Vancity owns Citizens Bank of Canada, serving members across the country by telephone, ATM, and the Internet. For further information, visit: www.vancity.com.

^TMenviroFund is a registered trademark of Vancity.