This Month’s Finalists

November 2012 Finalists

Want to see who wins? Join us at the Discovery Centre. (Barrington St.) on November 29 from 7-9 pm to see these four finalists pitch their idea. This month,one of these ideas will walk away with $1,000, no-strings-attached grant to make it happen! A thousandollarionaire! 

Make Your Mark – Christmas at St. Pat’s - Natasha Grant, Sherri Bain

The Central North End is a wonderful tapestry of communities within a community. Our diversity is reflected in the faces of the people who live here, the businesses that line our streets, and the community services and programs we provide. 

In the heart of our community is a school. The city sold it. The community fought back. Against the odds, a small group of people from the Central North End, and their supporters, challenged city hall…and won! The former sale of St. Pat’s Alexandra School to JONO Developments was reversed. 

As the interested community groups prepare to organize for their next proposal, they know that no plan for a ‘community centre’ will be successful without community engagement. This cannot be done ‘for’ the community. It must be done ‘with’ the community.

It is important that everyone understands that this is their last chance to decide what they would like to see happen with the school. 

Unfortunately, the recent victory for the community went by without much fanfare. The Central North End rarely has reason to celebrate. It would be the perfect opportunity to invite all of our communities to come together. Our intent would be to organize an evening of celebration, holiday cheer, and create an avenue to engage the community in discussions about how the school could best serve them.

1. Tree Lighting Ceremony 

- ask everyone to bring their own ornament to hang on the tree

2. Hot chocolate, cider

3. Entertainment – CentreLine Studio – youth performance – theme – Community – MYM

First Nations Drummers 

Shining Light Choir…leading community caroling

                        Community DJ

Community Speakers 

4.  “Make Your Mark” Community Board – 4X8 plywood, painted white, trimmed, markers (everyone signs their name, board is hung temporarily at the Library? until it can be hung in the new ‘community centre’ )…we want folks to understand that they can make their mark on the process (‘MAKE YOUR MARK’ board)

5. Maintain Engagement – Facebook, Library – one page updates, feedback forms…

Ryan’s Project- Enactus Saint Mary’s

Ryan’s Project began when an 11 year-old boy feared that he wasn’t learning – and more importantly, acting to help solve the environmental issues facing his school. This boy’s name was Ryan, and he came to the Enactus Saint Mary’s team for help.

We quickly saw the potential to make meaningful environmental change in Ecole Burton Ettinger Elementary through education, activity planning and empowerment. Working with dedicated teachers, school administration, Green Schools Nova Scotia, and most importantly, the extremely enthusiastic students of the Green Team – we have seen positive change. Last year, these kids have: saved approx. 180,000 liters of fresh water, reduced their schools electrical consumption by 10%, increased their recycling at every waste bin, properly disposed of 232 batteries and donated fundraised money to send a third world girl to school!

This year, we are steamrolling ahead with Ryan’s Project. Our goal is to educate and generate positive environmental change for the local Fairview community. Not only is the entire student body of Ecole Burton Ettinger already getting more involved in the positive environmental activities, but everyone involved has only just begun to realize what they are capable of doing. They can not only influence change inside and outside of the classroom, but around the world.

The Spring Garden Road Smile Campaign -  Ian MacDonald

The goal of the Spring Garden Road Smile Campaign is to make people smile. The campaign will take place in three parts:

1) An online comedy video and theme song. This video will begin with our main character waking to another numbingly cold winter day in Halifax. As he prepares for work, nothing goes his way. He rushes from his bedroom to the shower, shivers as he quickly eats his cold cereal, and gets splashed by the bus before it lets him off at the bottom of Spring Garden Rd.. As he begins his walk up the road, people pass by, paying no attention at all. Then, suddenly, a mystical magical character, the Imagineer, appears with some wonderful advice. “Smile!” he says excitedly. The theme song begins as they walk up the road together. Skeptical at first, our main character forces a weak smile at passers by. Eventually someone smiles back, and he realizes that the Imagineer may be onto something. They continue walking happily and singing together, spreading the smiles as they go. The video itself comes to life with the colourful character of the Imagineer and the infectious melody of his song. It will spread throughout the Halifax community and the world via the internet and social networking sites.

2) The theme song will air on local radio stations as people drive to work. It is only 1:15 long, but people will have the jingle stuck in their head for the rest of the day. It is an excellent reminder to smile and brighten someone’s day.

3) Colourful Spring Garden Road Smile Campaign logos will be placed in participating business windows and telephone poles along the road.

Halifax winters may be long, but they don’t have to be dark. One genuine smile can go a long way towards brightening a person’s day.

Chess in a Box - Blaine Gallant

I serve on the Executive of the Nova Scotia Scholastic Chess Association. This year our association would like to pilot a program that will allow schools to start a chess club. Many studies have shown that there is a direct link between playing chess and improved academic achievement. To help foster this and introduce this great game to more kids, we would provide any school who wants it a complete kit to start and run a chess club. The starter kit will include five new chess kits a complete manual on how to start and maintain your club and also provide support to the schools by going to the schools to help with establishing the clubs or help organize tournaments. We have a strong volunteer group, which was evident this past may when we hosted the Canadian Chess Challenge in Halifax – http://www.nssca.ca/ccc/.