Red River Mutual kicks off fourth year of community space restoration program

Red River Mutual has announced that its community sponsorship initiative – Spruce Up Your Story – is now in its fourth year.

Through the Spruce Up Your Story initiative, Red River Mutual will offer a total of $150,000 to help restore “well-worn, but well-loved” community spaces across Manitoba and Saskatchewan. In addition to the cash grants, the chosen community spaces will also have access to additional volunteer hours from Red River Mutual, as well as from local brokerage staff members.

“The goal of Spruce Up Your Story is to ensure the places where communities gather continue to thrive for generations to come,” said Red River Mutual vice president of strategy and business development Jennifer Ewankiw. “It’s not about replacing these spaces, but rather breathing new life into them.”

Ewankiw added that Red River Mutual is “committed to helping make a change in the communities and neighbourhoods [the company does] business in,” and that the insurer – as a neighbour – wants to be their for its fellow neighbours.

Applications for the initiative are now open on Red River Mutual’s website; submissions for community projects for consideration are open until May 31, 2023.

Red River Mutual has awarded over $450,000 to support 30 spaces in Manitoba and Saskatchewan since 2020.

Last year, Red River Mutual also handed out a total of $150,000 in grants to the winners of 2022’s Spruce Up Your Story contest. For that year, the insurer received nearly 150 submissions from across the Prairies for community space nominations, and 10 community spaces were selected to receive the grants.