KAMLOOPS – When TRU holds its annual donor awards ceremony this Thursday, 326 students will receive a total of $391,000 in award money, an increase of $100,000 over last year. The donor ceremony, at which donors meet the students who benefit from the award they have established, begins at 5pm on Nov. 23 in TRU’s Grand Hall.
A second ceremony will be held in the same venue a week later on Nov. 30, when 183 students will receive $118,000 more from the Foundation’s unrestricted fund. Earlier this year, the TRU Board of Governors awarded an additional $465,000 in bursaries and entrance scholarships.
These awards, plus other awards provided by Foundation donors that are given out in the winter and spring, will bring the grand total awarded to TRU students from all sources in the 2006/07 academic year to an estimated $1.3 million, the largest amount given out in the history of the Foundation.
The increase is due to new annual awards and endowment funds established by donors who may earmark their gifts for students in specific programs, or give to the Foundation’s unrestricted fund. The increase is also in part due to the favourable interest rates this past year on Foundation endowment funds.
“From personal experience I can tell you what a tremendous feeling it is to hand out an award to a student at the annual awards ceremony,” said Foundation Board Chair Dave Shaw. “From my perspective, one of the most meaningful comments I have received from a student is that this gift has enabled them to decide to continue into the next semester with some financial security and stability,” he added.
Kim Rathwell-Austin, 2006 TRU Bachelor of Social Work degree graduate and former Foundation student award recipient, backed up Shaw’s statement with a personal anecdote.
“As a recipient of bursaries and scholarships I give thanks that someone believed in me enough to give me money and that in turn made me accountable to myself, to the faculty, to the larger community of TRU, to the donor and to my fellow students,” she said.
The 2006 Lieutenant-Governor’s silver medal, won by Rathwell-Austin in 2003, will also be awarded Nov. 23.
With its 25th anniversary still a year away, TRUs 15-member volunteer board and 62-member volunteer society have now raised over $6.9 million in 206 endowment funds, established 205 annual funds, and raised over $1 million last year, with an additional 1.8 million dollars in planned giving expectancies advised to the Foundation last year, to support student awards, program needs and special projects at TRU.
To make a donation to the TRU Foundation, to find out more about creating a student award fund or to establish a planned gift or legacy to TRU, please call 828-5264 or visit the website.
Opportunities for media interviews with donors and student recipients will be arranged by the Foundation after the ceremony.
Photo opportunity: Lieutenant-Governor’s Silver Medalist.
For more information, please contact Karen Gamracy at (250) 371-5715 or by email.
