The Williams Lake Endowment Fund has grown thanks to a recent generous donation.
It was established earlier this year under the umbrella of the Prince George Community Foundation which will hold and manage the fund for the City.
While the PGFC provides administrative support, the City of Williams Lake will retain control on how the income earned annually will be spent in the community.
Beth Veenkamp is the Economic Development Officer for the City of Williams Lake.
“We worked on an Endowment Fund this summer and we managed to have it established by September, and so it’s an open fund that anyone can donate to,” Veenkamp said, “and we were delighted and shocked to get a phone call that we had received a fifty thousand dollar cheque from an anonymous donor in the Williams Lake area.”
Veenkamp said all of the interest earned from that fund goes back into it annually until we are pulling enough interest out annually to be able to do things like fund our current Fee for Service and Grants in Aid Programs.
Mayor Walt Cobb said “To receive a gift like this less than three months after establishing the fund exceeds what we ever envisioned. With our initial investment of $50,000 and then the matching gift from Northern Development Initiative Trust we were off to a good start. This gift has brought our fund up to $150,000.”
“It was a bit of a stretch to think that an investment of fifty thousand dollars would create a significant enough of a start to be a difference-maker, but it goes to show that we should never underestimate the generosity that exists in our community.” Veenkamp said, “When we create opportunities there is no telling what may happen.”