Nipissing Serenity Hospice got the news it was waiting for Wednesday. It is officially one of the ten finalists in the Community Health category in the Aviva Community Fund competition, with a chance at winning $100,000.
Hospice chair, Mathilde Bazinet is excited to learn the group is still in the running.
"It's nationwide and there are a lot of good projects throughout the country, so you know, we were a little nervous. It comes at the most opportune time because we really are wanting to complete our capitol fundraising campaign. We are planning to start construction in the spring. This is a big boost, and hopefully it encourages local people to make a donation."
Bazinet says winning the top prize in their category will go a long way towards achieving their financial goal.
"The cost of one room is $100,000, so that could actually pay for one room. That would be phenomenal," said Bazinet.
The project will now be reviewed by a judging panel.
"They have their judges that will be going over our submission more carefully, just to see where we rank within their scoring criteria. I feel really, really confident just because if you look at all the other submissions, they're all very similar and I know the originality of the idea definitely influences our score," said Alanna Taylor, Corporate Fundraising Committee member.
It is possible that sometime over the next month, judges may request an interview for clarification or additional information, or even a site visit.
"We are open to an interview, and we are always more than willing to have someone come do a visit if they want to meet at the Hospice site, as well as meet with any board members. If Aviva feels that's necessary, then we welcome that with open arms. The more information we can share, the happier we are," said Taylor.
She goes on to say that at the end of the day, the Aviva competition has helped with one of the committee's goals, to bring awareness about the need for a Hospice in the community.
"We really want to inform the community, people who did not realize the need for the Hospice or how far the Hospice has come and how close we are. So we've definitely accomplished that goal because we are seeing that our Facebook group has grown. The reception from the community and just the awareness, means we absolutely met that goal. But we also at the very least will have a $5,000 donation from Aviva to our Hospice. So there's really a happy ending either way."
The committee doesn't know where it is currently ranked, but it does know it has received votes from around the world.
"Each person is entitled to 18 votes. But something I find really interesting is the amount of votes you get from an Insurance Broker also helps," said Taylor.
"I'm an active volunteer locally, provincially and nationally with the Insurance Association, and I've reached out to my contacts across the country. I don't have the total number of broker votes that we got, but I have got a ton of response from brokers across the country who confirmed that they have voted for the Hospice in North Bay," explained Taylor. "
"It is so exciting to me how North Bay and area pulled together to get these votes in, in just seven days. But we also reached people across the country, and we also got confirmation that we had votes from as far away as Hong Kong, Australia and South Africa. So it is just a really exciting feeling to know that the support comes not only from our own city, but outside of that as well."
Aviva will announce the grand prize winners on December 5th.
