Sandbox Mutual Insurance has announced the five recipients of this year's Communities At Play program, each receiving $25,000 toward their playground projects.
Each year, Sandbox Mutual Insurance selects organizations across the Prairies that are establishing or renovating playgrounds and provides $25,000 in funding to support their projects. Since the program launched in 2023, Communities At Play has supported playground projects across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Each spring, organizations submit applications for funding, with Sandbox employees selecting four $25,000 grant recipients through a company-wide vote, while a fifth recipient is chosen through a public vote.
This year's five recipients are École Jasper Elementary School in Jasper, Alberta; Maude Burke Elementary School in Melfort, Saskatchewan; the Town of Whitewood, Saskatchewan; École St. Adolphe in St. Adolphe, Manitoba; and Oak Bluff Community School in Oak Bluff, Manitoba.
Rob Jones, president and CEO of Sandbox Mutual Insurance, said: "At Sandbox, we believe strong communities are built through shared investment, support, and a commitment to giving back to the places where we live and do business. By providing funding for inclusive playground projects, we're partnering with communities to create welcoming spaces where children of all abilities can play safely, build friendships, and enjoy the benefits of being active outdoors."
Sandbox will conduct cheque presentations to all communities involved and volunteer time to help with the construction process.
The grants come as the Prairie provinces face an increasingly active severe weather pattern that has kept the region high on the industry's risk agenda. According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada and CatIQ, severe weather caused more than $2.4 billion in insured losses across Canada in 2025, making it the country's tenth costliest year on record for weather-related damage.
Prairie communities bore a significant share of that total: wildfires in Flin Flon, Manitoba, and La Ronge, Saskatchewan, caused an estimated $300 million in insured losses in May, while storms across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba in August, which included tornadoes and widespread hail damage to vehicles in Brooks, Alberta, added a further $235 million.
IBC has said hailstorm-related insured damage alone has exceeded $6 billion across Canada over the past five years, with Saskatchewan and Manitoba among the provinces seeing some of the steepest home insurance rate increases as a result.
Against that backdrop, community investment programs like Communities At Play reflect a broader pattern among Canadian mutual insurers of directing resources back into the same communities they underwrite, a model long associated with mutuals' local roots and one that has taken on added significance as Prairie residents contend with more frequent and costly weather events.
