One of the Morden Area Foundation’s objectives is to enrich the city.
On July 2nd, for the first time, the organization did so in a spring granting session that saw significant funding returned to the community.
Sue Nelson, chair of the Morden Area Foundation, said that the organization usually holds its annual fall granting session near Christmas, but this year, it added an extra session.
In addition to giving more back to Morden, the event also featured recognition for the recipients of other fundraising initiatives run by the foundation.
Significant amounts
Nelson, who called the spring granting session “exciting” for the foundation, said that $44,000 was granted to various organizations in the city.
The session also recognized two other initiatives that Morden Area Foundation orchestrates — April’s Power of the Purse, an annual event during which women gather for a fundraising brunch and choose organizations to support, as well as recipients of the Learn & Return Bursary, which gives back to those from the area who study healthcare and plan to practice in the Pembina Valley.
The Power of the Purse raised $22,700 to be distributed, while $26,500 was reinvested in the community through the Learn & Return Bursary.
The numbers are a part of the "incredible” $306,000 that the foundation has given out this year, said Nelson.
The granting event also featured a presentation about the Stanley Trail project between Morden and Winkler, of which the Morden Area Foundation is also a part, as well as a grant to Morden Collegiate’s Youth in Philanthropy group.
‘It has taken a while’
As for the flurry of activity that the Morden Foundation is currently seeing, it wasn’t always this way.
“It has taken a while to build up our endowment so that we can start giving out significant amounts of money,” says Nelson. “It's taken a while, so people are not necessarily aware of what we're doing.”
According to Nelson, one group well-acquainted with the foundation is those in Morden who apply for grants.
“We have a lot of grant applicants, so the agencies in the community know we exist and what we do and that we can help make their projects a ‘go’ so that they don't have to do the fundraising.”
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Nelson said that the foundation has a “strong core” of people who donate to its funds each year.
“We need more people to be aware that the money they give is put in an endowed fund, and it stays there,” she said. “We only spend the interest, so that means we're going to be able to give out in the range of $300,000 every single year, and it will grow every year as well, so that's really good news.”
Empowering young people
The July 2nd granting event also helped the younger generation support community initiatives. The Morden Area Foundation awarded $5,000 to Morden Collegiate’s Youth in Philanthropy (YIP) group.
Kendall Ritchie, a grade 11 student who handles media relations for YIP, said the funds were distributed among Youth for Christ, the Pembina Valley Humane Society, and the group itself to support a school garden project.
The project involves creating garden boxes to grow vegetables for donation to Many Hands.
For Ritchie, being involved in the community through philanthropy is a meaningful experience.
“It's a really good feeling, and I feel like I'm benefitting a lot from it, and learning a lot, and just getting experience,” she said.
Learn and Return
Young people were also at the centre of the Learn & Return bursaries that were handed out.
Lenore Laverty, a board member with the Morden Area Foundation, said that this is the second year that the organization has given out the bursary.
“We had a very successful application period,” she said. “We've awarded 19 grants to individuals from the area who are studying in the healthcare field and have more or less committed to practicing ... in Boundary Trails Health Centre or in Morden somewhere.”
Laverty said that the recipients were made up of the following:
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Eight students in the Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) program at Assiniboine College
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Five students pursuing a bachelor of nursing degree
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Three students studying to become medical doctors
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One student studying pharmacy
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One student training to become an MRI technologist
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One student working toward a master’s degree in occupational therapy
Because the Learn & Return Bursary is an endowed fund, it will continue into the future, said Laverty.
The organization is grateful to the Morden Masonic Lodge scholarship, the Richard & Emma Krueger and Leonard Krueger scholarship, and the Bill & Linda Fehr scholarship for their contributions to the bursary as it continues to grow.
“Our goal has always been a million dollars, which would pay out about $50,000 a year,” she said. “Right now, I think we're just over $575,000, maybe a little more.”
For Laverty, the Learn & Return Bursary is one that benefits the entire community.
“I think it's pretty terrific for everybody,” she said. “I think also [shows the recipients that there is] interest from the community to help their studies, and we certainly want to support them in staying in the area to practice.”
‘We exist to help them’
As for how Nelson feels about the Morden Area Foundation’s work this summer, she views it as the organization's primary purpose.
“We exist to help [local agencies],” she said. “That's the whole point of a community foundation. It's wonderful to see all the things that they're doing and to know that we can help them do that.”
Nelson adds that community donations make it all possible.
“It's because the money has come in that we are able to do these things, and we're not the people doing the doing. It's all of these other groups that are doing fabulous work,” she said.
With files from Robyn Wiebe
