The Quesnel Community Foundation has matched the anonymous donor’s challenge of raising more than 50 thousand dollars over the holiday season.
Foundation President Mary Sjostrom goes over the final numbers…
“I just want to reach out to the community and everyone. We were able to raise $56,280 this year, and of course with our matching donor, that gives us $106,280 for our 2019 campaign, and I just can’t say thank you enough to everyone who contributed. It’s really phenomenal because we know that there are a lot of folks that are challenged right now and have lost their jobs.”
That will add to the Foundation’s endowment and the income earned from that will go back into the community in the form of grants, bursaries and scholarships.
Sjostrom says they’ve extended the deadline this year…
“If there is a group out there that’s interested in applying for a grant they can go onto our website at www.quesnelfoundation.ca. And what we’ve done this year is we’ve listened to the folks and they would like a longer period of time, so we’ve extended it to January 31st. So if you’ve got time before Christmas and you want to fill out the first step of the application you can do that, but if not, you’ve got a little bit longer.”
The grants go out to community groups in the spring.
Sjostrom says another part of this year’s successful campaign is that there is a new bursary…
“It’ll be a bursary in memory of Doctor Neal and Eva Barber, and of course many folks will remember Doctor Barber, he was a physician in this community for many, many years and they were able to reach their goal with this challenge as well, so that bursary will be available to medical students.”
Sjostrom says the family and friends will be identifying the exact parameters of that bursary.
She says she would also like to acknowledge all of the hard work of the people in the Foundation…
“I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas on behalf of the Quesnel Community Foundation and very best for the New Year. And I want to recognize and thank the board members and our Coordinator. It’s a very hard working Board and I am just really thrilled that we’ve been able to, with the many sponsors as well that support us year round, I want to say thank you very much.”
The foundation started out with just 50 thousand dollars in 2001 as part of a legacy fund from the community hosting the BC Winter Games.