Prince George, B.C. – Your vote could help Big Brothers Big Sisters Prince George (BBBSPG) land a brand new playground.

The local non-profit organization is in the running for the Canadian Scholarship Trusts Inspired Minds Learning Grant.

Cassie Lobban, operations and events assistant, BBBSPG

And Cassie Lobban, operations and events assistant, says it’s not your average playground they are hoping to build.

“It’s a natural playground that we want to build in our backyard outside our Rotary Clubhouse. And what we mean by natural playground is basically a playground that uses a lot of natural materials. So wood from the trees around Prince George. We want to incorporate garden beds, a greenhouse, slides that utilize the natural hillside that’s already there.”

The playground would benefit over 1,000 kids and is valued at around $30,000. So why a playground?

“More and more research keeps coming out every year. Not only stating how important play is but also how important that connection to nature is and how that’s sort of getting lost in modern society and how great it can not only be for mental health but also physical well-being, academic performance, that kind of thing.”

But to have any chance at winning, Lobban says they’ll need the required votes in order to qualify for the judging round.

“The voting period is until May 16^th. You can actually vote up to three times a day.” She adds they are tantalizingly close to qualifying.

“Right now we’re just outside the top 20, about 25^th. That’s out of thousands, there’s 17 pages of ideas.”

For more information on the project (it’s idea 1444) and how to vote check out their Facebook page.