 |
|
|
|
|
  
|
Twenty years of community building Kevin Allerston Northern News Services Published Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Throughout those 20 years, the foundation has awarded more than $500,000 in grants and scholarships in support of post-secondary education, arts, health, trades, sport, environment, aviation, and more. Foundation president Darrell Vikse said it is all about helping people. "It helps the community, it helps the individuals," said Vikse. "We're here to help people. That's really what we're here to do." The foundation has helped set up grants and scholarship programs for many projects, including the Northern Aviation Scholarship, the John Tumchewics Memorial Fund, the Aurora College Scholarship, and the Helping Children Soar Scholarship Fund. The John Tumchewics Memorial Fund was started by John's father, Robert, after John died in a helicopter accident in Ontario in 2010. It provides funds for things such as equipment and training for aspiring helicopter pilots. "It might help get them a few more hours of instruction or, you know, possibly a piece of safety equipment, like a helmet, or GPS - those sorts of things," said Robert. He said he doesn't think he would have been able to start the scholarship without the assistance of the YCF. Robert was also involved in helping set up the Con Employees' Benevolent Fund in 2011. "The Con Employees' Benevolent Society was formed back in 1955 to give support to workers who were off work due to non-work-related sickness or accidents. Basically, it was a form of self-insurance," said Tumchewics. "And the few members, or former members, I could round up at the very end figured it would be nice for the funds to last and to keep doing good things for people, so the Yellowknife Community Foundation was a good place to put it. Also, Con Mine really figured quite prominently in Yellowknife's history, so it's a way of remembering all the people who worked at Con as well." The foundation is also responsible for helping set up the Helping Children Soar Scholarship Fund, which awards two $500 scholarships annually to help children who have grown up in foster care continue their education. "Sometimes a lot of kids who grow up in foster care might have learning disabilities or maybe not be able to focus on education because of what's going on in their lives, and they may not qualify for certain bursaries and awards that others qualify for," said Tammy Krivda, executive director of the Foster Family Coalition of the NWT. "So we wanted to set up something specifically for youth that have grown up in care and make it as wide as we can so they can use it for upgrading, some kind of a trade school. Something that would be bettering themselves. " Members of the YCF will be celebrating their milestones at their upcoming Valentine's Gala scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Explorer Hotel.
|
