The Revelstoke Community Foundation’s Annual Celebration on Apr. 28 brought home the message of community spirit and self-sufficiency.
The foundation was created in 1999 to commemorate the city’s centennial. Since then, it has grown from an initial $40,000 investment to about $1.35 million.
Simply stated, the foundation accepts donations from community members and groups, invests those donation and then disperses a portion of the interest in the form of grants and scholarships.
“We’re back!” announced Chair Steven Hui in his annual message, noting the foundation had given about $35,000 in grants and scholarships last year. This follows difficult times during the global economic downturn.
Fund Development Chair Dr. Geoff Battersby said the foundation had set an “ambitious goal” of topping up the fund to $1.5 million by the end of the year.
Guest speaker Leanne Hammond Komori of the Central Okanagan Foundation discussed trends in philanthropy, such as social enterprise, but also noted that “the bulk of our endowment funds are families.” She encouraged community members to think about their will and legacy planning, and to be on top of the paperwork to avoid tax pitfalls. She also said government cutbacks in recent years underscored the importance of community self-sufficiency.
Grant recipients were invited to speak about how the grant assisted their program. Patti Larson of the Community Connections Food Bank said 200 adults and 69 children had accessed their program recently. Families were facing tough decisions, such as should they “buy food or pay rent.” The funding helped the food bank ship donations from major food companies to Revelstoke.
Andree Rioux of the Revelstoke Hospice Society noted their grant had enabled them to install a two-person sleeper couch at their facility. “No one likes to be alone,” Rioux said.
Interested in making a donation or finding out about their programs? Contact the Revelstoke Community Foundation at 250-837-5345 or at www.revelstokecf.com/communityfoundation.