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Birch Hills Youth Group wins top prize in national contest

Aug 10, 2017 | 5:00 PM

After weeks of campaining, a Birch Hills youth group has won $20,000 to add upgrades to the town’s skate park.

The Canadian bank Tangerine celebrated their 20th anniversary with a contest to help communities upgrade their parks. The Birch Hills RYSC youth group beat out almost 400 other submissions to win the grand prize.

Kathy Evans, who entered on behalf of the youth group said after the park was built two years ago, it made sense to expand.

“The park went beyond what was oringinally planned. It became a skate park, we had basketball courts and a community garden,” Evans said. “With more and more families using the park, the need for washroom facilities and a camp gazebo to offer shade and a place to gather was needed. We thought this would be a perfect fit for what we’ve already done and accomplished.”

Tangerine announced the winners over Facebook, but because of technical difficulties the youth group was unaware of their win.

“The feed kept on cutting in and out. They said ‘and now the first place is…’ and we weren’t sure if we won or not. Tangerine Bank counted down the prizes from fifth place to first and we didn’t hear our name. So we had no idea where we placed,” Evans said.

The group plans to move forward right away with the project, which was initially put on hold until next year.

 

brandon.graziano@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow