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Anonymous Donor Gives $50,000.00 to Rotary Bursary Endowment Fund

Posted on August 13, 2015 by

Anonymous Donor – Rotary Bursary Endowment FundNews Aug 13, 2015 by Brent Cooper Gravenhurst Banner
BIG CHEQUE:

Ross Seimms of the Rotary Club of Gravenhurst holds a large cheque for $50,000 while fund chair Ken Little talks about the anonymous donation the club received for its bursary fund. (Photo by Brent Cooper)

GRAVENHURST – Someone with deep pockets and a big heart has come to the aid of Gravenhurst students and their family.

Ken Little, chair of the Rotary Club of Gravenhurst’s Bursary Endowment Fund, informed the members at an Aug. 10 meeting that an unknown source has given greatly to the group’s fund.

‘We have received an anonymous donation of 700 shares of Onex that we have now sold and netted out $53,500,” he told those gathered at the Opera House Monday morning.

Little went on to say that the Gravenhurst area has one of the lowest income areas in Ontario, under $29,000 a year. He added a statistic from the 1990s showed that following the loss of the Muskoka Centre, Rubberset and Oliver McLeod in that era, the number of those on seasonal employment was one of the highest in the province.

“With a large tourist-based economy those figures have likely not changed a great deal in the last 20 years,” he said. “The parents of many low-income families in our town often do not encourage their children to obtain an education and that is due, in part, to the inability of the parents to provide an opportunity for one child, let alone two or three to go beyond high school. It becomes a cycle, a cycle created by economic conditions, which affects attitudes and for children it affects their educational future.”

He went on to say the cost of a year of study at college or university varies from $5,000 to $20,000 in Ontario, depending upon the course of study, the cost of books, food and accommodation, something he called “a challenge for many families and students.”

“We are instructed to use this money specifically for matching donations of $12,500 to create more family bursaries. I would like to thank this donor for the generosity shown by making an anonymous donation that garners no recognition or applause for himself, but only for the pure joy of giving to an important cause we all believe in, a commitment to children in need of an education and the families of those students who are struggling to make it happen here in Gravenhurst,” he said.

Applications for a bursary from the Rotary Bursary Endowment Fund are available online at bursaryfund.ca. The applicant must either live in Gravenhurst or be going to school in Gravenhurst; taking a course leading to a degree, diploma or certificate; and demonstrate they are in need of financial help.

It is also available to those adults wishing to upgrade their skills. All studies must lead to a diploma, degree or certificate to qualify.

For more information on the endowment fund, visit bursaryfund.ca or the club’s website at gravenhurstrotary.com.