The Kimberley and District Community Foundation held its annual wine and cheese reception on Tuesday, December 1 at Centre 64. It was appropriately Giving Tuesday, as the Foundation handed out $18,000 in grants to community organizations.
The grants went to all sorts of projects, from a boardwalk to protect delicate terrain around Eimer’s Lake to new windows for the heritage schoolhouse in Marysville to the Rotary Splash Park to promoting Big Brothers Big Sisters in Kimberley.
Since its inception in 2001, the Kimberley and District Community Foundation has grown its endowment to almost $600,000 and $205,000 has been distributed in the community.
The Foundation does not spend the endowment but donates the interest each year. In that way the funds can grow and be sustainable.
Foundation president Terry Oscarson also acknowledged the major support the Foundation receives from Kootenay Savings Credit Union, which gave them the seed money for the Community Fund and continues to support it each year with $6,000 in flow-through funding.
In 2015, the Kimberley and District Community Foundation handed out $4000 in Winter Games Legacy Funding to various sports organization in Kimberley, as well as the $15,000 from the Theresa Cundiff Fund and the KSCU Community Fund and $2909 from the Bill Motek Memorial Fund to the Pines Memorial Society to improve life for residents of the Special Care Home.
The Foundation accepts donations, bequests and gifts from individuals and corporations to create permanent endowment funds which support a wide variety of community projects.
The Board of Directors of the Community Foundation are Corinne Gilchrist, Duncan MacLeod, Douglas Kittle, Terry Oscarson, Bob King, Myra Farquhar, Michelle Lemay, Desiree McKay, Kent Goodwin, Josh Lockhart, Mike Flowers and Joanne Kitt.
The foundation is managed by a volunteer board of Directors and is a registered charity. Annual financial reports can be found at the Canada Revenue Agency Charities Branch website.