Allyson Snelling
via – Cottage Country Now 

BURSARY BOOST. Rotarian Ken Little, chair of the Rotary Bursary Endowment Fund, accepts a donation of $25,000 from Ev and Florence Doherty on behalf of the Doherty family at Monday’s club luncheon. The funds will be used to assist needy Gravenhurst students in pursuing post-secondary education.

As monetary support continues to roll in for the Rotary Bursary Endowment Fund, Gravenhurst Rotarians were pleasantly surprised by a bonanza gift in the shape of a $25,000 pledge.

On Monday, during the weekly Rotary Club of Graven­hurst luncheon, Ev Doherty, retiree and PineRidge resident, pledged the funds on behalf of the Doherty family.

He passionately spoke about his early life as a barefoot farm boy and recalled his experiences with receiving assistance as a needy student, and the benefits of giving generously as an adult.

Doherty talked about education being a way out of poverty and told of several personal incidents where he was assisted by individuals when he had neither the money nor the means to continue his schooling. He credited his success to the generosity and care of others.

Doherty is a former vice-president of Purina and also was president of Cold Springs Farm. He and his wife Florence came to Gravenhurst nine years ago.

“They met at university,” said Ken Little, chair of the educational endowment fund. “He only got there only because of help from a local farmer and later from a professor at the university.”

With the Doherty donation, more than $100,000 has been committed to the endowment fund.

Rotary made an initial donation of $25,000 and pledged an additional $5,000 in each of the next five years. There have also been several smaller donations made, explained Little.

“People have stopped me on the street,” he said. “We’re very grateful that this has received such generous support from people in the community.”

The Rotary Bursary Endow­ment Fund has been created to assist Gravenhurst students in pursuing post-secondary education by distributing assistance from the interest on the investment. For example, interest on the Doherty pledge will be dispersed annually to a needy student in the family’s name.

Little called the Doherty pledge “very generous and kind,” adding it is coming to the fund through stocks Doherty owns.

The value of donating stocks, said Little, is that the owner doesn’t pay capital gains and also gets the full value of the stocks in a tax receipt.

“It’s a tremendous way to donate for those who have shares of a company,” said Little.

Although the club has not set a fixed goal, to help 20 students a significant amount of money is required. The club is hoping to provide between $5,000 and $7,000 to each person wanting to improve their education. The first bursary is expected to be awarded in 2011.

In order to qualify for the bursaries, an individual must be living in the Gravenhurst area, or attending school in Gravenhurst. Those living in town and attending catholic schools would qualify. Individuals from town wanting to update their skills by taking certificate courses also qualify. In every case, recipients must be in financial need of a bursary.

“We want to change expectations by changing perceptions and creating an opportunity,” Little previously said. “We want to change the future of children in this community by offering hope to families and their children for a better education.”