Fido awards top voted local projects in London, Ottawa and Toronto
Fido and Evergreen share $100,000 with environmental and community
organizations
TORONTO, Aug. 19, 2011 /CNW/ – The votes are in! Fido and Evergreen
today announced the top three winners of Fido Share Your Care™, a campaign supporting local environmental and community initiatives.
From July 5th to August 14th, Canadians were encouraged to vote for their favourite local cause at www.shareyourcare.ca. In total, Fido, as part of its commitment to Evergreen, will share
$100,000 among 20 local organizations across Canada. Each of the 20
projects involved with Share Your Care receives base support of $2,500.
The top ranking projects will be awarded as follows:
-
First Place, $25,000: ReForest London – Million Tree Challenge, London,
ON. -
Million Tree Challenge aims to plant one tree for every resident over
the next three years. This will equal a million trees over ten years. -
Second Place, $15,000: Fletcher Wildlife Garden – Monarch Waystation,
Ottawa, ON. -
Fletcher Wildlife Garden plans to establish the largest Monarch
waystation in Canada for butterflies and other pollinating insects. -
Third Place, $10,000: Harbourfront Community Centre – Re-Connecting in
TO, Toronto, ON. -
Re-Connecting in TO aims to create a calm garden oasis to help
Torontonians reconnect with the natural world.
“It was great to see Canadians show their support for these
organizations in their efforts to bring nature back to our cities,”
says Steven Sarfin, Senior Director, Marketing, Fido. “We’re happy to
support the three winning environment and community initiatives to help
make their cities more liveable.”
The Share Your Care website received a total of 122,422 visits during the contest, with
first place winner, the Million Tree Challenge of London, Ontario
receiving the most votes. This project aims to create a priceless
legacy for generations to come by planting one million trees over the
next ten years. The Challenge is a tree planting blitz targeted for
public and private spaces, on boulevards, in commercial parking lots,
on industrial land and in parks and recreational space. The effort is
spearheaded by ReForest London, a non-profit organization that has
planted more than 22,000 native trees and shrubs throughout London,
Ontario since 2005.
Million Tree Challenge will use the Fido Share Your Care funds to support tree planting initiatives in parks and schoolyards.
Native trees and shrubs will be planted by community and student
volunteers.
“We want people to share their pride and their love for trees and their
community,” explains Julie Ryan, the Executive Director of ReForest
London. “That’s why we are so pleased to have received the most votes.
We’re happy to be working with Fido to help make a difference through
the Share Your Care initiative.”
“Evergreen is thrilled to be working with Fido to deepen Canadians’
engagement in community green spaces across Canada,” said Evergreen
Executive Director, Geoff Cape. “This kind of initiative inspires so
many Canadians to get involved and make a difference.”
Partners since 2009, Fido and Evergreen have worked together to restore
degraded public spaces, increase opportunities for outdoor recreation,
education and enjoyment, as well as improve the health and biodiversity
of natural habitats in urban communities. To date, Fido has helped
Evergreen support more than 190 school ground greening projects, 800
public greening events and workshops, engage more than 20,000
volunteers and plant over 40,000 trees and shrubs across Canada. In
addition, Fido has saved over 3.62 tonnes of paper through its online
billing initiative.
For more information on Fido Share Your Care or other Fido and Evergreen initiatives, visit www.fido.ca/evergreen.
About Fido:
Fido gives low prices a good home by offering Canadian consumers simple,
high-value low price wireless voice and data products and services with
excellent customer care. Operating on the global standard GSM and HSPA
technology platforms, Fido customers can roam in over 200
countries/areas.
About Evergreen:
Evergreen is a national not-for-profit organization that makes cities
more livable. By deepening the connection between people and nature,
and empowering Canadians to take a hands-on approach to their urban
environments, Evergreen is improving the health of our cities—now and
for the future.