Stark Family Fund grants $34,000 to community projects
Administrator | Jun 17, 2019 | Comments 1
Residents in Prince Edward County will share in the benefits of a $34,000 boost to local projects focused on enhancing quality of life in the community.
The Community Foundation for Kingston & Area (CKFA), which holds the Stark Family Fund, presented $34,325.07 to local charities on Monday.
The Stark family, lifelong residents of Bloomfield, included five sisters – Leata, Keitha, Sylvia, Ival and Ruth. There were no children in the families and following the passing of the last two, the Stark Family Fund endowment was created in 2002 with the Community Foundation for Kingston & Area.
The $1.2 million accumulated in the estates of the five sisters and their spouses was destined to support the needs of the local community.
“They worked very hard over their lifetime. They loved their community and they were very anonymous about a lot of things,” said Linda Beatty, who with her husband Tim and their sons Kyle and Ryan, sit on the grant selection committee to help oversee donations.
“They orchestrated getting water put in at the cemetery so people could water flowers at the graves as one of a lot of quiet, anonymous things,” she told the gathering Monday. “So for them, getting the Community Foundation in Kingston to organize things they were able to keep their givings a little private. And now, it’s turned back that everybody in the community can benefit from all their hard work.”
“My husband grew up next door to them. They were likes aunts and grandmothers to him. We were very blessed to get to know them.”
Through the fund, their strong sense of civic responsibility sustains worthy projects and causes.
Tina Bailey, the Foundation’s Executive Director, said the fund has granted more than $850,000 to a wide variety of charities, and the principle amount remains, to continue the giving in perpetuity.
Penny Scott, the Foundation’s Grants Co-ordinator, joined Beatty to present this year’s grant recipients, awarded in several fields of interest to the Stark Family.
Charities receiving grants this year:
Prince Edward Collegiate Institute received $4,933.07
for four adjustable basketball nets to be used by primary and intermediate learners still too short to utilize the current nets.
The Children’s Foundation was pleased to receive $8,000 for its Playing for Keeps and Camps of Hope programs that assist children to register for sports or activities, or attend a camp. In 2018, 31 children register for a sport or activity and 32 children went to camps. Eleven at-risk moms in PEC were assisted.
County Kids Read will purchase more than 1,000 board and picture books with its $3,600 grant for its Books for Our Very Young program which distributes free books to low income families and at-risk children in Prince Edward County.
The Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Foundation will use its $4,421 grant toward
replacement of IV Infusion Pumps, critical in providing patient care.
The Wellington & District Food Bank’s Food to Share will use its $3,200 to hold cooking sessions for users of the Wellington and Picton Foodbanks to help increase skills in meal preparation, as well as sharing the food prepared.
The Rotary Club of Picton will use its $5,750 toward bursaries presentations at for graduating students from PECI who are attending post secondary education.
Trenton Memorial Hospital Foundation received
$4,421.00 to go toward purchasing IV smart pumps that deliver medicine and blood products.
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Wonderful legacy that benefits many. Thank you to the Stark family!