Grant Recipients

Past community projects funded by Heroes for Health grants.

2025 

Cooking Across Cultures

This project aims to promote awareness of diverse cultural cuisines and educate students on healthy cooking. The goal is to engage with 100 students in preparing a cultural dish selected by participating student clubs. Through this collaboration, Cooking Across Cultures hopes to showcase the ethnically diverse cuisine, all while teaching students to cook and instill healthier eating habits.

sîsîkwan (rattle) Making Wellness Session

This project fosters connectedness amongst the Indigenous student body through celebrating and engaging in cultural practices such as rattle making. Led by Elder Cal Cardinal who will guide and teach students, ATEP students and staff have an opportunity to partake in this culturally significant process and connect further with their Indigeneity. This project removes any financial barriers for students to participate, and allows them to connect with other Indigenous students of various backgrounds.

The Grove

The Grove provides a safe and therapeutic space for those who are victims of sexual assault through facilitating group activities all of which are participant-led and facilitated by a registered psychologist. The Grove's intent is to bring joy back into the lives of those who have experience sexual trauma through trauma-informed approaches, all while fostering community.

A taste of home for international students: Growing a sense of belonging through community gardening with the University and Edmonton communities

A Taste of Home aims to reconnect international students to locally grown produce that was once readily available to them in their home country. Through an existing partnership with the Green and Gold Community Garden, this project engages with international students and volunteers from the community to grow and maintain a diverse range of produce from various continents such as Africa and Asia. This is to promote not only healthy and sustainable eating, but also to gain a sense of connection and community amongst the international student body.

2024

Friends Across Campus Sip n’ Share Series

This event series promotes social wellness through structured conversations and activities. Each session begins with a volunteer facilitator leading small group discussions on mental health or student life topics. Participants then rotate to new groups to explore different questions on the same theme. The event concludes with casual social time where you can continue connecting with others over board games, coloring and crafts. 

Green Flow Period Pantry

This project is centred on advocating for period equity and sustainable menstruation practices. The primary goal was to make reusable and compostable period products such as period underwear, menstrual cups, reusable pads and compostable pads readily available to menstruating students across campus and ensure environmental consciousness. Aiming to empower individuals to make choices that align with social justice and environmental stewardship, this project contributed to a more equitable and eco-conscious campus culture.

Mapping Barriers to Accessibility

ATLAS with US,' aims to enhance campus accessibility by leveraging the power of community and technology developed as part of Dr. Fergus-Pell's research on wheelchair biomechanics. The research has been spun out into a Click&Push, a social enterprise focused on identifying barriers for accessibility. Its goal is to create a comprehensive accessibility map of the U of A campus, identifying areas of strength and those needing improvement. This map will not only guide individuals with mobility challenges, but also raise awareness about accessibility among all campus members.

Previous years

Calm Room

Created by members of the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, Calm Room is a space that supports mental health through activity in a nature-inspired, tranquil environment. Space where students can take a break and manage stress through multisensory activities such as LEGO, painting, puzzles, solitary games and yoga.

Indigenous Campus Community (ICC) Nutrition Program

A program aimed to bridge the traditional diets of First Nation, Metis and Inuit (FNMI) with modern diets through preserving Indigenous traditions through food for all university members (indigenous and non-indigenous). The program will consult with members of the Indigenous campus community through a focus group that will shape nutrition workshops during the school year for Indigenous and non-Indigenous campus members.

BioSci's Wellness in the Workplace

A wellness workshop series for graduate students, faculty and staff of the Biological Sciences Department. Conducted monthly, these workshops will be on a variety of topics such as informational seminars on services offered across the university including HIAR and CCS to techniques for mental and physical wellness like yoga/fitness instruction, art/music therapy, healthy eating and mindfulness. This initiative aims to provide its audience with a toolbox of strategies to maintain healthy physical, mental and social lifestyles, increase awareness of university services and to build a supportive and engaged workplace.

Combating Food Insecurity at the U of A: Grocery buses + campus kitchens

To tackle the issue of food security at the U of A, Campus Food Bank has started the grocery bus and campus kitchen program to increase access to healthy food for university members. For more information on this program, visit the Campus Food Bank .

LAB Snacks

Providing an opportunity for students at Augustana to get healthy snacks to refuel and regroup during the exam season. This project aims to deal with the lack of healthy food that students may be consuming during the semester but most especially during the busy and stressful exam season.

Student Success + Experience Zen Den

Modeled after Alberta Health Services' Zen Den, this space was created to support the mental health of staff by having a dedicated space for a break. It aimed to improve the mental health of those who access it, allowing for a space to retreat and collect oneself and decrease days staff are away due to stress and illness. The Zen Den featured a comfortable, tranquil space with meditative music, the opportunity for yoga, guided meditation and other mindfulness activities. (Please note this space is no longer offered).

Reinvigorated Law Wellness

Through offerings of various activities that focus on the dimensions of wellness, the Faculty of Law is hoping to continue their LawWellness program which aims to encourage students to become more in tune with their own personal health and wellness and to support opportunities for students to engage in wellness-related activities. The program mainly focuses on emotional wellness, intellectual wellness, physical wellness, social and spiritual wellness.