Couple donates $10,000 to Rotary’s bursary fund

via – Cottage Country Now

Rotarian Dick Augustine, treasurer of the Rotary Club of Gravenhurst, accepts an anonymous donation of $10,000 to Rotary’s bursary endowment fund from bursary fund chair Ken Little during the Dec. 19 club meeting.

The Rotary Bursary Endowment Fund this week received a surprise gift of $10,000 from a local couple wishing to support the Rotary Club of Gravenhurst’s effort to provide post secondary opportunities for students in Gravenhurst.

The couple wished to remain anonymous.

The donation was gratefully accepted by bursary endowment fund chair Ken Little, who said it reflects the real spirit of the holiday season.

“The true spirit of giving comes alive at Christmas and Hanukkah as individuals and families give to each other and also to those they may never know,” said Little. “Charitable donations are determined by the interest of those who are giving. It may be their church, their old university, the local hospital or a charitable organization such as the Rotary Club of Gravenhurst and the Rotary Bursary Endowment Fund initiated two years ago. The bursary fund is dedicated to providing bursaries to needy Gravenhurst students wishing to have a post secondary education.”

Since the fund was started, it has grown by over 300 per cent, Little said.

This year the fund provided its first bursaries to four graduating students studying at four different colleges and universities in Ontario.

“If families know there is help right here we hope they will have a higher expectation of their children … and the child will have a higher expectation of themselves,” said Little.

This year the Rotary Bursary Endowment Fund also received 500 shares of CIBC stock valued at $70 per share. The stock may have been purchased for only $35, which would normally mean the owner would pay a large capital gain tax. However, Revenue Canada allows the donor to transfer the stock to a charitable organization like the Rotary Club of Gravenhurst and therefore not pay any capital gains. The donation is also tax deductible, Little explained.