Sunday, June 12, 2016
COQUITLAM – The awarding of grants for undertakings as diverse as science education and the provision of hearing-assist equipment highlighted the Coquitlam Foundation’s annual Awards Night, held June 9 at the Evergreen Cultural Centre.
In total, the foundation distributed about $100,000 worth of grants, bursaries and scholarships to Coquitlam-area groups and students over the past 12 months.
Foundation director Janet Toddington also accepted a cheque for $15,000 from Friends of Mundy Park Heritage Society representative Jack Trumley to seed a proposed new donor-advised fund with the foundation.
“We are honoured to be able to continue to serve the community in so many meaningful ways,” says Toddington. “Whether it’s helping a group like the Friends of Mundy realize its philanthropic goals, or supporting students with grants and bursaries, we are extremely pleased that we continue to have a positive impact on Coquitlam.”
Board director Ron Grender said the 12-person grants committee that he chairs had its hands full this year matching numerous requests with funds that had become somewhat scarcer because of market conditions. “In the end, I’m proud of the work the committee and the board did in providing support where it was needed the most,” Grender says.
Community-grant winners this year include: the Evergreen Cultural Centre ($3,500) to support an upgrade of Evergreen’s assistive-listening system; Kinsmen Club of Coquitlam ($2,500) to upgrade its food trailers; Parent Support Services Society of BC ($2,495) to fund peer-support circles and community education to assist parents and other caregivers; Place des Arts Society ($3,200) to support its summer ArtReach camp; and PLEA Community Services Society of BC ($2,700) to support its Kidstart mentoring program.
Other grants went to: Riverview Horticultural Centre Society ($3,000) for Treefest 2016; Science AL!VE – SFU ($1,000) for the Science AL!VE after-school program; Coquitlam Search and Rescue ($3,200) for its new Mobile Command Centre; Tri-City Transitions Society ($3,500) to support its Give Her Voice Expression program. Grants from donor-advised funds went to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (Carleigh Rae LeClair Memorial Fund); and the Arthritis Society, BC and Yukon (Shelagh Elaine Fulton Memorial Fund).
Dozens of scholarships and bursaries were also announced, distributed or recognized at the event. Recipients included: Owen McCulloch (CMLA Brodie Campbell Memorial Scholarship); Hannah Im (Raymond A. LeClair Scholarship); Sara Blackburn, Kimberly Tay and Megan MacDonald (Danielle and Gary Couling Education Fund); Liam MacDonald (Trevor Wingrove Fund); Tina Madami Kia, Shelby Spreeuw, Sina Khalili and Vivian Zhou (Steps Together Fund); Kristin Kwon and Nikita Menon (CF Community Fund); Annie Yun An Shiau, Cheslie Chan, Emily Naing, Moses Lee, Chris (Jun Seok) Kim, Kristin Kwon, Ray (Yu Jui) Liu, and Bianca Santucci (Mayor’s Community Fund).
The foundation also recognized numerous recipients of bursaries and grants from two funds: Wesbild Holdings’ Learning Initiative for Tomorrow (LIFT) fund and the Symington Endowment Fund. Wesbild was also the presenting sponsor for the Awards Night; Team Leo was reception sponsor; the Tri-City News was media sponsor; and the Evergreen Cultural Centre was venue sponsor.
Please click here to see a detailed list of all winners.
In other news, the foundation announced that Coquitlam tech entrepreneur Jason Carvalho will join the board July 1. Also on that date, eight-year board member Terry O’Neill will transition from community director to the mayor’s delegate on the board of directors.
The public is invited to attend the foundation’s AGM at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 15 in the Coquitlam Foundation Room of the City Centre Branch of the Coquitlam Public Library. Please email info@coquitlamfoundation.com if you plan to attend.
The foundation manages $2.8 million in 28 foundation-directed and donor-advised funds. The foundation always welcomes donations to its funds. The Coquitlam Foundation is registered with Canada Revenue as a charitable organization, No. 890762347 RR0001.