2025 Community Investment Grant Program

In 2025, we received 384 applications from across Nova Scotia. Once again, our Member Advisory Council was engaged in the selection process, and we are pleased to share that we have selected 22 recipients, who will receive $100,000 in total. We made a concerted effort again this year to support traditionally under-represented groups, guaranteeing that a minimum of $10,000 would be awarded to organizations within the BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and/or Disabled communities. The successful recipients, listed below, are all creating positive social and economic impacts across Nova Scotia.

The recipients of the 2025 Community Investment Grant Program include: 

Small Business

Groomed Ape Soap Co.  
The $5,000 grant will purchase industrial shelving units, load molds, thermal containers, cutting die, and professional printing services. This funding will allow for a production capacity increase of up to 300% and will help Groomed Ape expand into additional retail locations.
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Simply Baked Paw Bites 
The $5,000 grant will fund the purchase of a freeze dryer machine and packaging that is more environmentally friendly. This equipment will help expand retail presence and create treats with a longer-lasting shelf life that do not need to be refrigerated. 
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Mousseline Pastries & Delicatessen 
The $1,400 grant will fund the purchase of a dough sheeter. This will save time, achieve a consistent dough thickness and allow for the introduction of new product lines.
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Celebrate Your Curves 
The $7,500 grant will fund the integration of a 3D scanning tool with the Celebrate Your Curves retail clothing website. This tool is designed to accommodate users with unique body needs, disabilities, or mobility challenges and will simplify the process of taking body measurements for everyone.
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Aquaterra Resource Services Ltd. 
The $6,400 grant will purchase a Heron Borehole camera. This equipment will make it easier to perform efficient inspections without removing pumping equipment. This saves time, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and will eliminate the need to fly in similar equipment from other provinces.
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Wamboldt’s Appliance Repair 
The $2,500 grant will support the outfitting of their service vehicle with equipment for lifting and handling appliances. This will allow for increased service capacity, fewer workers per job and a reduction in risk of injury.
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Halifax Charcuterie 
The $2,200 grant will fund the cost of acquiring and equipping a mobile charcuterie cart. This will allow for interactive and accessible ways to engage with customers, as well as reducing waste from food and packaging. Funds will also be used to support minor branding enhancements to educate customers on sustainable food practices.
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Community

Society of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Nova Scotians 
The $3,000 grant will assist deaf and hard-of-hearing Nova Scotians, living in the Cape Breton region, from the lower income bracket. The Grant will be used to provide these individuals with specialized alerting devices including an amplified phone, a visual doorbell and a visual or vibrating smoke alarm. Specifically, this will allow seniors to live safer and more independently in their own homes. 
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LEARNINGO: Community Learning and Education Society 
This educational facility is specifically for school-aged students and young adults with autism and other diverse learning needs. They address educational challenges by providing a flexible, inclusive approach with tailored programs to individual learning styles. The school offers curriculum-based learning, life skills-based learning and a hybrid track, giving students the tools to succeed while fostering a sense of belonging in a supportive community. Their $10,000 grant will allow the school to purchase adaptive, sensory-friendly furniture and equipment to support and enhance the students’ learning. 
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St. James United Church Food Bank 
This $4,000 grant will fund the purchase of two new upright freezers and replace their current broken freezers for their community food bank. This will allow them to keep food bank food stored safely, for a longer period of time, reducing food waste and saving on energy costs. Most importantly, it will allow them to support their growing food bank clientele, most of whom do not have at-home freezer storage. 
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It Takes a Village Community Outreach & Advocacy Society 
This $8,000 grant will provide support for cancer patients and survivors from marginalized communities. Their initiative focuses on ensuring patients feel seen and fosters a sense of empowerment, hope and connection. The Grant will provide funding for support groups with peer mentoring, facilitate educational workshops on care, nutrition and mental health, and support holistic health programs such as yoga, meditation, and art or music therapy. 
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Health, Wellness & Recreation

Healing on Purpose: Therapeutic Services 
This $5,000 grant will fund the facilitation of a 10-week community meditation workshop series. These sessions are free and open to all community members and will cover various themes of healing, including trauma, inner child work, burnout, and much more. 
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Intimately U Body & Candle Shop 
This $5,100 grant will support the Empower & Illuminate initiative. This series of workshops aims to improve the mental health and well-being of BIPOC women and survivors of domestic violence across Nova Scotia by blending creative expression, such as candle-making for mindfulness, with community-building discussions that foster resilience and healing. These funds will assist with facilitator fees, venue costs, transportation costs, childcare services, and outreach efforts to underserved and rural communities.
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Tatamagouche Regional Academy 
This $1,300 grant will fund the purchase of a stand mixer, bread maker, bowls, baking utensils, and ingredients. This equipment will be used to support the Academy’s breakfast program, as well as to help the school support students with life skills, social development, and building skills in the kitchen.
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Saint Matthew's United Church 
This $1,100 grant will fund a replacement stove for use in the church’s breakfast program. Volunteers from Saint Matthew’s have operated the breakfast program for over 40 years, serving those who are food insecure, many of whom are also unhoused, and they have recently seen an increase in the number of guests using their program.  This funding will help them prepare meals more efficiently and allow them to continue offering their breakfast program on Sundays, when most other free programs are closed.
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Halifax Kids Physio 
This $2,500 grant that will purchase a Movement Assessment Battery for Children Third Edition (MABC-3). This device is critical in diagnosing school-aged children with development coordination disorder (DCD), who have difficulty with motor skills and coordinating movement patterns. This will allow for earlier diagnosis, shorter wait times and access to appropriate support and treatment for the children’s families. 
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Sustainability

Eastern Passage Food Security Society 
The $5,000 grant will purchase solar powered lighting, energy efficient appliances, composting materials, and a rainwater harvesting system for their Green Horizons Garden program. This funding will help create a more sustainable, energy-efficient, and waste conscious community space.
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Oakhill Outdoor Ltd. 
This $5,000 grant will purchase an industrial screener to optimize the co-composting process. This equipment will allow Oakhill Outdoor Ltd to accept organic waste from other contractors and divert those materials from landfills. This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote sustainability through recycling organic waste.
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EduHaus Inc. 
The $5,000 grant will be used to purchase and install solar panels and back up battery storage for the Roots and Harvest initiative. This initiative is transforming two donated 20-foot shipping containers into fully functioning hydroponic farms, ensuring continuous food production with minimal environmental impact. The organization will also train local entrepreneurs and underrepresented communities in hydroponic farming, fostering job creation.
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Arts & Culture

Turtle Island Market 
This $4,000 grant will purchase equipment for the Metis Art Studio, such as ergonomic furniture, improved lighting, high-quality tools, sustainable materials and new mediums like birch bark and bison leather. These improvements will allow for greater production capacity and will support the Turtle Island Market in their mission to preserve and promote the traditions of Metis art.
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The Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame 
The $5,000 grant will support the creation of  a new permanent exhibit, the Cultural Communities Map. This new exhibit will feature a map of Nova Scotia highlighting major place names in English, French, Mi’kmaw, and Gaelic, as well as highlighting historic communities and key places in Nova Scotia’s sports history.
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Boularderie Island Press 
This $6,000 grant will fund the facilitation of creative writing workshops to engage and empower seniors living rurally. Under the guidance of published writers, participants will be encouraged to share challenges they are facing or have overcome.  The goal of these sessions is to publish a book that would be distributed to workshop participants, libraries, community centres, and non-profit societies throughout Victoria County.
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If you have any questions, please email us at grants@cua.com.

Featured Projects by Previous Recipients