Editor, The Times:
My friends, I was thinking about the member rewards that all members of the credit union get. You see, credit unions members get a share of the profits as the members are the shareholders. One could think of it as free money and, if so, a person might also like to be offered the opportunity to invest in the future of the Valley.
As an avid supporter and chair of the North Thompson Communities Foundation, I’d like to tell you about some of the endowment funds you might support in your communities foundation.
You might choose the arts, children and youth, seniors, health, education, poverty or protection of the environment. These are all ‘envelopes of interest’ that people support in the valley.
If that selection is not enough; in November of 2012 we initiated a new fund called the Smart and Caring Community Fund. With the help of such groups at the Royal Purple #302, Clearwater Festival and Events Society, and a variety of individuals and businesses donating funds to this more generalized fund, we are excited to let you know that our granting cycle is looking good for the future.
Indeed, one family in Barriere has begun work on a more specific fund. It will be a bursary to encourage Valley youth to go into the trades. The family and their friends are doing this in memory of their son, who passed away about a year ago. Watch for more information about this bursary in the near future.
In order to help you with your decision to give to an endowment of your choice, the foundation directors have voted to match any new donations given to the areas of interest this season until the moneys we’ve allotted run out.
You see, we thought that it would be a lovely legacy to all; and a fitting use for the funds we have been stewarding. Some funds were received as the result of a most generous man’s naming of the foundation in his will. He was a generous contributor of both time and wisdom while he was with us – it is only fitting that we consider ways to make this legacy help as many locals as we can for years to come!
So folks, as you move about your daily lives, please consider the future. Personally, our family chooses to give monthly by having funds transferred from our account to the foundation's account automatically (the number is 5018635 – community builders account).
But, hey, as I was saying in the beginning, why not consider depositing the member rewards into our local credit union/NT Communities Foundation account? Mark it according to the envelope of interest you’d like to support (see above).
While it is nice to support foundations and causes outside the Valley, I thought I would give you this option.
Cheryl Thomas
Clearwater, B.C.