VICTORIA -- The Victoria Foundation has announced the recipients of nearly a dozen grants worth $280,000 that the charitable foundation plans to dole out this year.

Among the recipients announced Wednesday are the Mustard Seed Street Church ($24,500) the Galiano Conservancy Association ($18,000), Habitat For Humanity Victoria ($30,000) and a group that salvages heritage lumber from building sites.

Unbuilders Deconstruction was awarded $30,000 to expand its operation on Vancouver Island. The group deconstructs old buildings in Vancouver to reclaim old-growth lumber and donate other materials to groups like Habitat for Humanity.

“Unbuilders are thrilled to be expanding our service to Vancouver Island, the epicentre of the B.C. logging industry and the old growth lumber we recover,” said Unbuilders founder Adam Corneil in a statement Wednesday.

“We want to ensure building owners on the island [have] a better way to remove an old building and divert that waste."

Other grant recipients include the Canada Mental health Association in Port Alberni ($25,000), the Victoria Native Friendship Centre ($25,000), HeroWork ($30,000), the Habitat Acquisition Trust ($25,000) and the Westcoast Community Resources Society ($30,000).