Last year, we reflected on our community involvement and started to wonder how we could get even more involved. After some research and reflection, the Spruce Up Your Story campaign came to fruition.

The goal of the campaign was to celebrate spaces that are at the heart of the communities we serve — spaces that encourage togetherness, sustainability, volunteerism, and that have a connection with our broker partners and community members. We hoped to inspire people to share their stories about the hockey rinks, gardens, and all the spaces in between that bring people together.

Prairie communities from all over Manitoba and Saskatchewan shared their stories with us, and in total, we received over 150 unique submissions — a shockingly huge success! Marketing Manager, Lainie Goldstine, shared her experience working on the campaign and the impact it’s already having on our communities.

“Initially, we thought even if we had only received 20 submissions the campaign would be a success. The response we received was greater than we ever could’ve imagined!”

When the campaign started, we worked closely with our broker partners to help spread the word — then social distancing regulations were put in place, and our approach to how we shared the campaign changed.

However, while we were relying on our brokers’ geographic reach to help promote this campaign, what we have seen from them, our staff, and our communities is a real sense of togetherness and desire to help each other, regardless of the circumstances.

From those over 150 submissions, we chose 10 winning spaces in communities across Manitoba and Saskatchewan. This year, we’ve also been able to increase the funding to support these winning spaces from $40,000 to $150,000!

The Boys and Girls Clubs of The Battlefords in North Battleford, Saskatchewan was one of those winners. The funds they received will help them renovate their currently unfinished basement. This renovation will give them more space to run programs for older youth in the community, so they can continue to have a safe space to learn and have fun.

Another winner is Dugald Community Club. They’ll be putting the funds they received toward baseball diamond upgrades, including new dugout covers and repairing the backstop. These upgrades will not only keep the baseball diamonds in good condition, but also will allow older leagues in the community to play their home games there instead of travel.

We’ve been in contact with the nominators and affiliated brokers of all the winning spaces and we’re excited to see the progress a few of them have already made on their projects!

“This campaign is helping us live out one of our values to care for customers and coworkers like family,” says Goldstine. “It has been wonderful to feel a sense of connection to the spaces we help protect.”

The overwhelming number of submissions and pride we’ve seen from the communities we work with and from our broker partners has been inspirational.

“From supporting arts and culture to helping rebuild a hockey arena that was once the pride and joy in the region, the sky is the limit to what we can do as an organization to help others in our communities.”

You can visit https://redrivermutual.com/spruce-up-your-story/winners/ to learn more about all of the winning spaces and stay tuned to our social media for an inside look at all of the winner’s stories within the coming weeks.