NEWTON — A Surrey elementary school is in the running to receive up to $100,000 for a new playground, but it has to win the votes first.
W.E. Kinvig Elementary, at 13266 70B Ave. in Newton, is the only Surrey school among 10 finalists across the province vying for a crack at the cash, which is being offered through a British Columbia Automobile Association (BCAA) contest.
It’s called the BCAA Play Here initiative. All told, $300,000 will be divvied up among the three finalist schools with the most votes.
The top 10 finalists were chosen from hundreds of schools across the province.
The public is invited to vote online. Voting closes on June 18 and the winner will be announced on June 23.
Janet Loewen, fundraising co-ordinator for the W.E. Kinvig project, said people who want to vote need to log onto BCAAplayhere.com and follow the prompts.
“They can vote every day until June 18. You can vote every single day. And we need you to vote every single day.
“Vote now and vote often,” she said.
Loewen said the school could “for sure” use the entire $100,000. “We’ve worked with the Rick Hansen Foundation; we put together inclusionary playgrounds so it’ll be wheelchair accessible and it has some different items for children with disabilities so those things can be quite costly,” she said.
Currently, she said, “There’s four swings in the back and then they do have a little playground in the front but only the little Kindergarten, Grade 1 (students) are allowed to play on it. So the older children aren’t allowed to use the playground, they just have four swings to play on.”
If W.E. Kinvig wins, Loewen said, they hope to have the playground ready by September.
“As far as I know it’s the only school in the Lower Mainland, the only project in the Lower Mainland that’s in the running,” she said.
She’s right. The other finalist schools are in Quesnel, Chase, Elkford, Port Alberni, Galiano Island, Mackenzie, Kamloops, Prince Rupert and Lake Cowichan.
Shawn Pettipas, BCAA’s senior manager of community impact, said W.E Kinvig’s “well-thought-out nomination detailed the positive impact a revitalized space would have on the kids and the rest of the community.
“The quality of W.E. Kinvig Elementary’s nomination showed a clear need for a better play space.”
Shom Sen, president and CEO of BCAA, said Play Here is “one of the largest community investments in BCAA’s history and we’re excited to increase our total contribution to $300,000 this year so that more communities can receive a revitalized play space.
“We congratulate W.E. Kinvig Elementary of being named a finalist,” Sen said.