Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/728142
FALL 2016 BCA A .COM 7 P lay is a vital part of a child's development. When I was a young boy, Scouts was a big part of my life. Our troop once built a dugout canoe. The day we finally finished it, we excitedly got in. After paddling a short distance, we realized something was horribly wrong. There was a sudden blur of arms and legs and the cold slap of water. We'd built what we thought was an unsinkable boat – but it refused to stay upright. The silver lining was our determination to build a better boat the next time around. As Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouts once said, "the child wants to be doing things; therefore encourage him to do them in the right direction, and let him do them in his own way. Let him make his mistakes; it is by these that he learns." At BCAA, we want kids to play, learn and do so safely. We understand the importance of play in children's healthy development – from problem-solving and critical thinking to socializing and physical development. Not to mention having good, old-fashioned fun that creates memories for life. For years, BCAA has focused on protecting kids on the road – for instance, donating thousands of car seats to families in need and running School Safety Patrols across the province. Playing by Heart your BCAA Now we're evolving to expand our focus and do more; to go beyond the road to protect kids in our community by giving them better places to play. You may know already that earlier this year we launched our first annual BCAA Play Here initiative, a program to provide a $100,000 revitalization to a play space in need of love. We worked with Global TV to spread the word, and the response was beyond our wildest expectations. We received 500 play-space nominations, and a keen appreciation of the need for better play areas in British Columbia. The biggest challenge? Getting it down to five finalists to put to the public vote. The enthusiasm for these projects from kids, parents, community members and the public was nothing short of amazing. In the end, more than 300,000 votes were cast for play spaces in Burnaby, Crawford Bay, Lillooet, Vancouver and Victoria. I want to thank everyone across the province who nominated or voted for a play space. To the finalists who worked so hard to earn votes for their projects – you are an inspiration. A Lillooet REC Centre play expert celebrates the facility's $100,000 BCAA Play Here win. After watching two frontrunners go neck- and-neck in votes for weeks, and all five finalists galvanize their communities – exhibiting such passion for making their communities better for kids – we felt compelled to take action and award two $100,000 revitalization winners, and surprise the remaining three finalists with $20,000 contributions toward making their play projects a reality. Congratulations to the Lillooet REC Centre and Torquay Elementary School in Victoria for their $100,000 wins, and to our $20,000 winners: Windsor Elementary in Burnaby, Crawford Bay Community Park and General Brock Elementary in Vancouver. We couldn't have made this impact for children without you, our BCAA and Evo Members. Since a portion of our revenues goes toward making life better for Members and communities, you made this possible. So thank you for inspiring and supporting us to create better places for children to play in our communities. Shom Sen President & CEO Victoria's Torquay Elementary School campaigned for and won $100,000 in the BCAA Play Here initiative.