Our Impact

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2010 Legacies Now took an innovative approach to leveraging the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games into local, tangible legacies in over 400 neighbourhoods and communities throughout British Columbia. We strategically invested in programs, organizations and communities to create legacies which would continue to live for many years. Visit our interactive map or download the 2010 Legacies Now Scrapbook to read highlights and stories of legacies created in every region of British Columbia.

2010 Legacies Now is recognized internationally as a leader and innovator in community legacy development.

Read Catalyst, Collaborator, Connector: The Social Innovation Model of 2010 Legacies Now, a case study commissioned by the International Olympic Committee, authored by Mr. Joseph Weiler and Mr. Arun Mohan.

Hear what some of our partners have to say about 2010 Legacies Now:
Andrea Shaw, VANOC
Betty MacLeod, RBC Royal Bank
Burke Taylor, VANOC
Christine Nicholls, Event Workforce Specialist
Debbie Schiller, Literacy Outreach Coordinator
Faye Wightman, Vancouver Foundation
Dr. Heather McKay, University of British Columbia
Jeremy Long, BC Arts Council
Hon. Mary McNeil, Minister of Citizen's Services (formally Minister of State for the Olympics)
Moira Gookstetter, Gymnastics BC
Susan Kelsey, Comox Valley Spirit of BC Committee
Tewanee Joseph, Four Host First Nations
Walt Judas, Tourism Vancouver
Wendy Pattenden, Canadian Sport Centre Pacific

Testimonials

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  • 2010 Legacies Now is the first of its kind to use the Olympic and Paralympic Games as catalysts for change.

    Dr. Jacques Rogge
    President, International Olympic Committee

  • We received funding from 2010 Legacies Now for our basketball team... for costs of travel, uniforms and entry fees into tournaments. The long-term benefits are our youth taking part in sport and being active... [and] the community has a team which they know can make it to a tournament, a team they can cheer for and be proud of.

    Jeannine Adams
    Hot Springs Wolves Basketball Team
    Aboriginal Youth Sport Legacy Fund grant recipient
    Tofino, BC

  • In a community such as ours that is quite remote, there really isn't much to do for the students. But since 2010 Legacies Now has offered the opportunity to produce a soccer camp [and] an arts camp, our village government has followed suit and come up with recreation opportunities for the students to take part in... Which is a goal of ours, [to] produce positive activities for the kids to do and hopefully they will carry this on.

    Alison Stewart
    Laxgalts’ap Elementary School
    Explorations grant recipient
    Greenville, BC

  • Our organization's greatest challenge was to have our sports fields smoke-free. The 2010 Legacies Now funds were used to provide no smoking signs... we also provided balls, shirts and equipment for the teams to start a fastball league.

    Charmayne Gagnon
    Moricetown Health Centre
    Aboriginal Youth Sport Legacy Fund grant recipient
    Moricetown, BC

  • The youth fastball league has been a very positive project that will continue and strive in Moricetown... I strongly believe that this is a start of something big, so many people have come together to keep our community active. Families are spending more time together; the younger generation is spending more quality time together and focusing on school.

    Charmayne Gagnon
    Moricetown Health Centre
    Aboriginal Youth Sport Legacy Fund grant recipient
    Moricetown, BC

  • We were able to purchase baseball equipment. This has allowed some children who have never played before to play for the first time. Not many parents could afford to pay fees to register their kids, let alone buy equipment, so this has made a big difference.

    Sharlene Prince
    Tl’azt’en Nation
    Aboriginal Youth Sport Legacy Fund grant recipient
    Fort St. James, BC

  • Our partnership with 2010 Legacies Now has helped us to realize the possibilities of what we are about. In just one year, the Snowbility Program has allowed us to... see that we have the ability to support persons with a disability as well as to influence corporate organizations to accept and accommodate such guests in a confident and welcoming manner...

    Dick Taylor
    Adaptive Sports at Sun Peaks
    BC Sport Participation Program grant recipient
    Kamloops, BC

  • The Measuring Up Committee has created a lasting legacy for Revelstoke by reducing physical barriers to active participation by persons with disabilities... Improved access for persons with disabilities increases opportunities for their participation in community life, whether it be attending a hockey game at the arena, visiting our municipal museum or beging able to get into the medical clinic on your own.

    Alan Mason
    City of Revelstoke Measuring Up Committee
    Measuring Up Accessibility and Inclusion Fund grant recipient
    Revelstoke, BC

  • 2010 Legacies Now has provided us with so much assistance. There are no words that could describe the tremendous work they have done for this organization... This [has] improved the lives of many people who now have a place to provide input and know that there [are] people that really care.

    Harj Gill
    Disabled Individuals Association
    Delta, BC

  • We would like the City of Kimberley to be one of the most accessible and inclusive cities in North America. In two years we have already achieved a lot and yet we still have a long way to go. With our continued partnership with 2010 Legacies Now, we hope to achieve all of our goals in accessibility and inclusivity.

    Caprice Hogg
    Kimberley Accessibility and Inclusivity Advisory Committee
    Measuring Up Accessibility and Inclusion Fund grant recipient
    Kimberley, BC

  • Our Measuring Up The North initiative itself has been a success through a generous grant from 2010 Legacies Now, which allows us to carry out a major portion of our activities. Our partnership with Measuring Up allows us to share knowledge and best practices... and to create new tools that all communities in BC can benefit from.

    Laurie Ringaert
    Measuring Up The North
    Measuring Up Accessibility and Inclusion Fund grant recipient
    Prince George, BC

  • Our partnership with 2010 Legacies Now has been very fruitful. The funding has helped our Measuring Up Committee... promote the needs for more accessibility and inclusion, as well as undertake some much-needed modifications to city facilities.

    Denise Fisher
    Measuring Up Committee
    Measuring Up Accessibility and Inclusion Fund grant recipient
    Terrace, BC

  • This project gave our organization the opportunity to partner with the business and profession community as well as families. It also gave a very real opportunity to create a dialogue with influencers and the community about what a fully inclusive community is and how we can work toward that achievement in Surrey.

    Liz Keres
    Surrey Association for Community Living
    Measuring Up Accessibility and Inclusion Fund grant recipient
    Surrey, BC

  • We feel that this program has made a lasting legacy with our members as it is an opportunity to cater to a new market and attract new visitors. Many of our members may not have known what requirements were necessary to become partially or fully accessible and now they have a partner to assist in catering to this market.

    Ange Chew
    Tourism Richmond
    Accessible Tourism partner
    Richmond, BC

  • The greatest benefit of our partnership with 2010 Legacies Now is our increased artistic and organizational capacity and the presentation opportunities that have become accessible along with the development of new performances that will be realized on a larger scale.

    Julia Taffe
    Aeriosa Dance Society
    Arts Partners in Creative Development grant recipient
    Vancouver, BC

  • 2010 Legacies Now has provided the much needed resources to allow the community to develop a community literacy plan and to provide a venue for literacy-focused organizations to meet and share ideas. The Adult Literacy Centre, as we are locally known, has participated [in] Literacy Now from the beginning and truly sees the benefit to our community.

    Karen Barr
    C.V. Community Adult Literacy and Learning Society
    Literacy Now Communities program participant
    Courtenay, BC

  • My story about how Literacy Now has impacted the community of Creston is not a little one. It is a big one, about big changes in the big picture, and the huge overall impact that the funding has had on literacy in our community... In short, literacy work has 'taken off' in Creston, and it is highly unlikely that it ever would have without the help of Literacy Now!

    Linda Steward
    Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy
    Literacy Now Communities program participant
    Creston, BC

  • 2010 [Legacies Now] is helping us to create what tomorrow's literacy programs will be. It is helping us to create a culture of literacy and lifelong learning for individuals, cradle to grave... Twenty years from now, my grandchildren will be participating in learning activities that were thought of and created through our partnership with 2010.

    Denise O’Neill
    Kitimat Community Services Society
    Literacy Now Communities program participant
    Kitimat, BC

  • 2010 Legacies Now has had an important and vital long-term impact on the development of literacy services in the Alberni Valley. In particular, through the Premier's bold commitment to make British Columbia 'the most literate jurisdiction in North America,' followed by the establishment of Literacy Now and its community literacy planning initiative, literacy planning and programming services have increased dramatically in the Alberni Valley.

    Tom Weegar
    Literacy Alberni Society
    Literacy Now Communities program participant
    Port Alberni, BC

  • The legacy of the partnership between 2010 Legacies Now and Literacy Now Cowichan will be a Cowichan community that is aware of the importance of literacy and its effect on community wellbeing and an ongoing organization to enhance literacy in our community.

    Candace Spilsbury
    Literacy Now Cowichan
    Literacy Now Communities program participant
    Duncan, BC

  • Without the funding that 2010 Legacies Now provided, we would still all be working on literacy, but off the sides of our desks. We would still be caring about literacy but unable to move that feeling of caring about it into action.

    Rebecca Beuschel
    Literacy Quesnel Society
    Literacy Now Communities program participant
    Quesnel, BC

  • The long-term benefit our partnership with 2010 Legacies Now will bring is a strong foundation on which we can build our literacy dream. This will be our legacy to the community... This partnership will allow our society to grow, and gives us the time we need to develop strong connections and a stable [literacy] centre with relevant programming.

    Rebecca Beuschel
    Literacy Quesnel Society
    Literacy Now Communities program participant
    Quesnel, BC

  • I believe that the resource material and initiatives that have come out of LEAP BC are well-positioned to support healthy child development for years to come. The material is simple, straightforward and easy to use by both childhood educators and parents, and will not be 'outdated' anytime soon.

    Sandra Menzer
    Vancouver Society of Children’s Centres
    Vancouver, BC

  • The key to the success of the 2010 Legacies Now support can be summed up by a story about one child who came to theatre camp the first summer we offered it. She could not look anyone in the eye, always looking down. She was scared of her own shadow and talked so quietly it was hard to hear her... At the end of the two weeks she could look people in the eye, including her audience, and she developed a whole new confidence in playing with her peers.

    Steve Swaddling
    Betty Huff Elementary School
    Explorations grant recipient
    Surrey, BC

  • Each student has been impacted and given opportunities that very few students in an inner-city elementary school would be given... To be able to offer professionals to help and assist students and to be able to do so using the medium of theatre makes it an amazing life-changing opportunity.

    Steve Swaddling
    Betty Huff Elementary School
    Explorations grant recipient
    Surrey, BC

  • Because of the funding that 2010 Legacies Now has provided we have been able to unite northern string players of all ages and abilities and have created a partnership in music-making specific to spring players... Not only are we producing quality and joyful music, but we are building relationships between people who would not have been united if it weren't for the programs that we have been able to offer.

    Laura Hols
    BV Classical Strings Society
    Innovations grant recipient
    Smithers, BC

  • Our 2010 Legacies Now partnerships have basically enabled us to bring assets - property and specialized equipment - into the small performing arts community... What this means is that there are new tools, [and] new spaces to experiment, to develop skills, and to share arts with the community. It means more artists are being developed to their potentials, and more youth are being met with the power of live performing arts.

    Nathan Medd
    Electric Company Theatre Society
    Catalyst grant recipient
    Vancouver, BC

  • We believe that singing is good for the body, mind and soul. Our partnership with 2010 Legacies Now has given us the opportunity to demonstrate this is a tangible way... Our partnership with 2010 Legacies Now allowed us to give nearly 2,200 people the joy and satisfaction of being part of something larger than themselves.

    Linda Dier
    Nanaimo Sings! Choral Festival Society
    Innovations grant recipient
    Nanaimo, BC

  • The partnership with 2010 Legacies Now has brought a lasting impact to both our organization and the many communities we serve. The grant we received for the Jericho Projects has had a tangible impact on those [participating] clubs... They have seen a rise in box office figures in their own communities. In turn, two of the clubs have been able to use their increased box office revenue to tour their productions to a greater number of communities.

    Robb Mowbray
    Theatre BC
    Catalyst grant recipient
    Nanaimo, BC

  • It's great to have the materials in my own classroom in order to do activities when I see the students need a lift. If I had to go to the gym or get supplies elsewhere, I wouldn't do it. But since the materials are right there, it's quick and easy to pull out the grippers or elastic stretch bands.

    Teacher
    Millstream Elementary School
    Action Schools! BC participant
    Victoria, BC

  • Action Schools! BC is a wonderful resource to help students think about healthy living and healthy eating. I have used the Action Schools! BC resources to complete a variety of lessons. We have made healthy eating placemats, brochures and menus. In addition, I have used the Daily Physical Activity tips in the resource book as 'brain breaks' in my classroom."

    Teacher
    McCloskey Elementary School
    Action Schools! BC participant
    Delta, BC

  • BC Sailing has, with the support of 2010 Legacies Now, established a mobile sailing program where kids across the province have been exposed to water safety and sailing for the first time. Over 350 kids got their feet wet in the new program… Kids from age 5 to 15 were engaged in on-water activities for one week in areas such as Prince George, Williams Lake, Hornby Island and all the way to Yukon….Now kids in these communities can sail all year and coaches are being trained to give more opportunities to the communities.

    Tina Moberg-Parker
    BC Sailing
    BC Sport Participation Program grant recipient

  • Our partnership with 2010 Legacies Now has helped us to realize the possibilities of what we are about. In just one year, the Snowbility Program has allowed us to... see that we have the ability to support persons with a disability as well as to influence corporate organizations to accept and accommodate such guests in a confident and welcoming manner...

    Dick Taylor
    Adaptive Sports at Sun Peaks
    BC Sport Participation Program grant recipient
    Kamloops, BC

  • The HostingBC.ca website is a valuable resource for small communities like ours; it helps put us on the map!

    Jenni Dyer
    Community Futures Powell River
    Powell River, BC

  • This is the second time since 2007 that the Comox Valley will host this prestigious international event and the second time Hosting BC has supported us. This particular event plays an important role in building local infrastructure, volunteer capacity and a local legacy for sport development and tourism.

    Len Apedaile
    2009 IPC Cross-Country Skiing and Biathlon World Cup Finals
    Hosting BC grant recipient
    Comox, BC

  • SportFit has been an excellent opportunity for my students to experience different physical fitness stations, to make them more aware of their bodies and its capabilities.

    Teacher
    Terry Fox Elementary School
    SportFit participant
    Abbotsford, BC

  • The students enjoyed all the activities, including entering their data. I found it initiated more excitement and conversation re. the upcoming Olympics.

    Teacher
    Anmore Elementary School
    SportFit participant
    Anmore, BC

  • For the first time in Penticton, youth and young adults with special needs are able to fulfill their dreams of playing the game they love: hockey. This grant opportunity provided leverage to gain additional community support including a large donation of hockey equipment… Thanks to the overwhelming positive response to this program, we hope to expand and further develop the program in the 2010-2011 season.

    Lori Mullin
    City of Penticton
    Local Sport Program Development Fund grant recipient
    Penticton, BC

  • My students are so motivated to be studying about Canadian heroes and Olympians. They have had many lessons on what constitutes a hero, famous or not, everyday unsung heroes and Olympic athletes. Now they are researching a Canadian hero and writing an essay to present to the school about their chosen hero.

    Teachers
    Noel Booth Elementary School
    Heroes Live Here participant
    Langley, BC

  • Heroes Live Here was a really natural fit with our Youth Action conference. The Discover, Celebrate and Act portions of the program all contributed to our delegates’ understanding of what a hero or leader truly is and helped motivate them to reach their own potential and make a difference in their communities. I would definitely recommend the model and will likely use it again in our future programming.

    Sarah van Heeswijk
    BC 4-H Youth Action 2009
    Heroes Live Here participant

  • The Infusion summer camp offered our students an opportunity to be involved in meaningful activities over the summer that encouraged exploration and creativity. Many of our students are not able to do this outside of school. Infusion also offered them an opportunity to bond with students outside of their age group, creating new friendships and allowing the older students to act as mentors. Teachers were able to experiment and explore new art ideas, and to teach with greater freedom and collaboration. Both teachers and students walked away with great insights to share with others.

    Teacher
    Windsor Elementary School
    Infusion participant
    Burnaby, BC

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