Helping Students Overcome Challenges to Build a Brighter Future

The Bell Aliant Pioneers NB Scholarship Foundation would like to invite the Aviva Community Fund to partner with our volunteer members to increase access to educational opportunities for students in New Brunswick with physical or mental challenges.

In 1995, volunteer members of the Telephone Pioneers who were living in New Brunswick created this Foundation to promote and improve the quality of life for students in the province who are physically or mentally challenged and who plan to continue their education after high school.

Each year, the Foundation receives dozens of applications from deserving New Brunswick students who want to develop skills and training and build their careers and futures. We not only award scholarships to students entering university or college, but we also extend them to students who plan to attend trade schools, technical training institutions, private business schools and so on.

Volunteers representing all areas of the province as well as both official languages (i.e. English and French) form the Foundation's selection committee. They perform their work in two stages: First, each member works indepently, using documented processes and criteria to assess each applicant for eligibility and to determine which students they feel will benefit most from the support the foundation offers.* Students who have been involved in their communities and who shown interest in supporting others are given the highest priority. After each member of the selection committee has completed his/her assessments of the applications, the committee members meet as a group to discuss their findings and to select which applicants will receive funding for their educational plans.

In 2009, the Foundation awarded five scholarships, valued at $2000 each, to five deserving New Brunswick students. Since its creation, the Foundation has awarded more than $160,000 to students in New Brunswick with physical or mental challenges.

We are committed to ensuring the Foundation remains viable and sustainable well into the future. Students' needs for assistance with education costs continue to grow in Canada as tuition rates climb. Access to funding for education at trade schools or private institutions is limited. Last but certainly not least, the ability of youth to advance their education is directly linked to their employment options and future success.

Given the documented challenges all students face in continuing their education program through to completion, we believe that the students we support need as much help as the community can provide them. We are hopeful the funding we provide these deserving students helps to remove some of the barriers they will face in their educational pursuits. In the end, we believe this will create brighter futures for these students as well as the communities in which they will live and work.

Until recently, our Foundation's sole source of funding has been through the generous donations of the Pioneer organization and its members in New Brunswick. We realize; however, that the best way to sustain our program into the future is to explore ways to partner with community-minded organizations in our region.

The Foundation is part of Saltscapes Magazine's Community Spirit Partnership -- a program designed to help community-based organizations in Atlantic Canada raise money and increase awareness, through subscriptions. The Foundation has also formed a partnership with a small business that has offices in various New Brunswick locations. This business, Help4Taxes, purchases season tickets for home-based hockey games played by our local Quebec Major-Junior Hockey Team-- the Saint John Sea Dogs. Help4Taxes donates these tickets to a number of community organizations, including the NB Pioneer Scholarship Foundation. The Foundation sells any donated tickets at a reduced price -- to families who would otherwise be unable to attend these games.

These two partnerships alone generate some $1,000 in additional revenue for the Foundation each year. Yet, the need is great and we continue to pursue additional partnerships.

We would appreciate being considered for funding through the Aviva Community Fund. Our goal is to continue to support New Brunswick's youth - specifically the educational plans of students with physical or mental challenges - through significant funding each year. If we could add an extra $1,000 to our bank account prior to June 2010, the Foundation could once again afford to extend $10,000 in scholarships to New Brunswick students. With $2,000 or more, we use your support to invest in the future funding of the Foundation.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of our Foundation as well as the future of the students in New Brunswick who we are committed to helping.

**In 2008, we asked the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation for guidance to ensure our awards and selection criteria were fair and appropriate.