Community Foundation of the Kootenay Rockies Celebrates 20 Years of Granting by Disbursing Over $135,000 in 2024

Elkford, Sparwood, Fernie, and Cranbrook, BC (April 10, 2024) – The Community Foundation of the Kootenay Rockies (CFKR) is thrilled to celebrate 20 years of granting by announcing its 2024 community grant recipients. In 2024, CFKR had a record-breaking $137,529.44 available to grant, contributing a total of $100,923.59 to 58 community initiatives, including five scholarships and one volunteer award. In addition, a total of $36,605.85 was re-invested in the principals of 16 endowment funds, to grow future granting.

Lynnette Wray, CFKR Executive Director, stated “Disbursing an all-time high of over $135,000 is an amazing way to celebrate our 20th year of granting! We would like to share our heartfelt congratulations with each of our 2024 grant recipients for the excellent work they are doing in our communities. We would also like to sincerely thank all our donors, endowment fund holders, and board/committee members, past and present, for their dedicated support in creating, growing, and administering our 46 permanently invested endowment funds, valued at over $4 million.”

Wray added, “CFKR was founded in 2003 and began granting in 2004. Over the past 20 years, thanks to the income earned from our endowment funds as well as external project funding, CFKR has granted over $1 million to more than 300 local non-profit projects in our communities of Elkford, Sparwood, Fernie, Cranbrook, and the surrounding rural areas.”

In 2024, CFKR granted to a wide range of community projects and programs. Each grant application was reviewed by CFKR’s local volunteer committees, with granting decisions ratified by the CFKR Board.

Elkford Community Fund – $4,174.63:

  • Elkford Search and Rescue – Satellite Phones: $1,500.00
  • Elkford Secondary School PAC – Indigenous Garden Equipment: $974.63
  • Elkford Arts Council – Community Workshops: $600.00
  • Rocky Mountain Elementary School PAC – Covered Sandbox: $600.00
  • District of Elkford – Urban Wildlife Committee – Community Education: $500.00

 

Sparwood Community Fund – $6,985.03:

  • Sparwood Food Bank – Bin Washing Station: $2,000.00
  • Sparwood Trails Alliance Picnic Table Replacement: $1,623.19
  • Wildsight – Classrooms with Outdoors: $500.00
  • Sparwood Golf Club – Junior/Family Golf: $2,000.00
  • Elk River Alliance – Office Flood Recovery: $861.84

 

Fernie Community Fund – $4,761.56:

  • Special Olympics British Columbia Society Elk Valley – Bocce: $150.00
  • Special Olympics British Columbia Society Elk Valley – Swimming: $150.00
  • Rocky Mountain Village Auxiliary Society – Seniors’ Activities: $990.00
  • Elk River Watershed Alliance – Office Flood Recovery: $971.56
  • Columbia Basin Environmental Education Network – Wild Voices For Kids: $500.00
  • Fernie & District Arts Council – Teen Murals: $1,000.00
  • Disabled Skiers Assoc. of BC – Fernie Adaptive Snowsports (FIRE) Volunteer Training: $1,000.00

 

In Cranbrook and area, including the South Country, $31,229.40 was granted to a total of 16 community initiatives, funded by several endowments, including the Cranbrook Community Fund; Seniors’ Enhancement Fund; Kimberley-Cranbrook 2008 Winter Games Arts/Culture and Sports Funds; Knights of Pythias Fund; Arts, Culture, and Heritage Fund; Environment Fund; Outdoor Recreation Fund; Neil & Patricia Sinclair Fund, and Addressing Homelessness Fund:

  • Knights of Pythias Community Volunteer Award: $750.00
    • 2024 recipient TBD in Fall 2024
  • Addressing Homelessness Fund – ANKORS Hygiene Project: $6,651.45
  • Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central and Southern Interior BC – Cranbrook School Programs: $2,000.00
  • Columbia Basin Environmental Education Network – Wild Voices for Kids – Cranbrook: $1,700.00
  • Cranbrook Food Bank – Hydroponic Growing Tower: $166.50
  • Cranbrook Women’s Resource Centre – Resource Library: $1,500.00
  • East Kootenay Regional Science Fair: $2,000.00
  • Elk Valley Adventure and Dirt Riders Society – South Country Trail Signage: $2,000.00
  • Galloway Curling Club – Exterior Sign: $1,120.00
  • Key City Theatre Society – Faces of Pride Photography Exhibit: $2,113.35
  • KidSport Canada – Cranbrook Chapter – Youth Sports Grants: $2,000.00
  • NorthStar Rails to Trails Society – Admin Costs: $1,365.10
  • South Country Social Planning Committee Society – Food Share: $2,000.00
  • Spirit of the Rockies Festival – Live Entertainment Central Fairgrounds: $2,000.00
  • Wildsight – Lessons from Nature: $2,000.00
  • Wildsight – Kimberley/Cranbrook Wildsight – Camp Odyssey: $1,863.00

 

CFKR’s agency/designated endowment funds provided the following grants:

  • Columbia Outdoor School/Blue Lake Camp Legacy Fund: $3,758.05
  • Cranbrook Community Theatre Legacy Fund: $769.34
  • Cranbrook History Centre Fund: $2,106.82
  • East Kootenay Foundation for Health Endowment: $2,067.79
  • East Kootenay SPCA Fund: $703.82
  • Symphony of the Kootenays Fund: $3,683.24
  • Children First Fund – Community Connections Society of Southeast BC: $2,272.23
  • StellerVista Credit Union Fund – Cranbrook Salvation Army’s local food programs: $5,508.65
  • EKFH Roy and Annabel Maundrell Endowment Fund: $349.42

 

CFKR’s donor-advised funds granted the following:

  • Niedermayer Family Fund – Living Lakes Canada Groundwater Literacy Project: $2,000.00
  • Melodie Hull Fund for Mental Health and Addictions – British Columbia Schizophrenia Society regional support group: $678.99
  • Greg Fisher Community Fund – Cranbrook Food Bank Hydroponic Growing Tower: $1,801.90
  • Janice Regnier Fund for Mental Health and Addictions – Cranbrook Women’s Resource Centre unrestricted grant: $717.65
  • Community Matters Legacy Fund – EKFH NICU campaign: $737.72
  • Cranbrook Past and Present Teachers’ Legacy Fund – SD#5 Resource Centre: $717.35
  • Casey & Corrine Hanemayer Fund: $21,000.00
    • BGC-Cranbrook – Youth Impact Garden Project: $1,000.00
    • Columbia Basin Institute for Regional History – School Project: $2,000.00
    • Cranbrook & District Arts Council – Summer Community Festivals: $2,500.00
    • Cranbrook History Centre – Ed Talks: $2,000.00
    • KidSport Canada/Cranbrook Chapter – Youth Sports Grants: $2,000.00
    • Friends of Fort Steele Society – On-site signage: $6,500.00
    • Symphony of the Kootenays – July concert/unrestricted grant: $5,000.00

 

CFKR looks forward to awarding our 2024 scholarships in the coming months:

  • Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce Education Fund: $400.00
  • Joyce Metcalfe Memorial Scholarship: $500.00
  • Mark Mahovlic Memorial Scholarship Fund: $1,000.00
  • Pidoca Construction Group Memorial Scholarship Fund: $1,500.00
  • Dr. Sparling and Mrs. Mary East Memorial Scholarship Fund: $1,500.00

 

Thanks to their commitment to charitable giving through endowment funds, the following endowment fund holders re-invested some or all of their 2024 grants, thereby growing both their principals as well as their future granting:

  • Casey and Corrine Hanemayer Funds:
    • East Kootenay Foundation for Health Fund: $8,365.60
    • Friends of Fort Steele Society Endowment Fund: $7,000.00
    • Symphony of the Kootenays Fund: $7,000.00
  • Niedermayer Family Fund: $353.98
  • BGC Cranbrook Fund: $472.67
  • Cranbrook Community Forest Society Legacy Fund: $733.58
  • Hough Ingalls Fund for Animal Welfare: $708.61
  • Key City Theatre Legacy Fund: $469.22
  • Key City Gymnastics Club Endowment Fund: $768.75
  • Cranbrook Public Library Endowment Fund: $1,061.30
  • Friends of Fort Steele Society Endowment Fund: $8,416.86
  • Northern BC Friends of Children East Kootenay Branch Endowment Fund: $469.16
  • Dianne Wray Memorial Scholarship Fund: $181.82
  • Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce Education Fund: $10.70
  • Dr. Sparling and Mrs. Mary East Memorial Scholarship Fund: $214.05
  • Pidoca Construction Group Memorial Scholarship Fund: $208.62
  • Joyce Metcalfe Memorial Scholarship: $170.93

Each year, CFKR’s annual community granting program opens January 1st and closes February 15th. Further details can be found at https://www.cfkrockies.ca/grants/.

All of Elkford’s 2024 grant recipients are represented in this photo (Elkford Search and Rescue, ESS PAC, RMES PAC, Elkford Arts Council, and the District of Elkford’s Urban Wildlife committee), including members of CFKR’s Elkford Community Fund Steering Committee.

 

CFKR’s Sparwood Community Fund Steering Committee and the Sparwood Food Bank Society

 

CFKR’s Sparwood Community Fund Steering Committee and the Sparwood Trails Alliance

 

CFKR’s Sparwood Community Fund Steering Committee and the Sparwood Golf Club Society

 

Fernie Community Fund Steering Committee and Rocky Mountain Village Auxiliary Society

 

CFKR and the Key City Theatre