Donation Update

I am so proud.

While it was mom's initiative that started the Crandlemire-Keenleyside Family Legacy Fund to honour our Grandparents, it was our entire family and network of friends that came together in the spirit of giving and community involvement.

In it's infancy, the Family Fund has gotten our whole family involved (as well as family friends) in giving back to our community, and the community that our Grandparents and parents have given so much to.

During the first few weeks of November, after we launched this blog and set our fund raising goal, Auntie Isabelle challenged us to raise $5,000! It was the stretch goal of all stretch goals, to come up with half of the money we would need before we could start issuing grants - but I dare say we did a fine job of getting close.

We have raised....(get ready for it)....

Wow.

In the name of our father, grandfather, husband and friend we have made a HUGE contribution to our Legacy Fund.

We'll continue this blog over the course of the next year, and beyond as we steadily increase the fund until we have the ability to give grants. Every year we'll do a large fundraising push for Grandpa's birthday in order to raise a large pot of money that will become our Legacy Fund. Once it grows to $10,000, the interest can be granted to whatever community project we decide. It may take us several years before we're ready to start giving our own grants - but I am certain that w'ell get there.

Our family has a legacy in the buildings and institutions that make up our home town, and we can continue that legacy with financial support far in to the future.

Bob Keenleyside

Dad was an active volunteer as a teen and young man. Have you ever heard about "teen town"? Teen Town's had a town council structure, and Dad was mayor for at least one year. Teen town's organized dances and other community activity for youth.

Dad was a Scoutmaster in Revelstoke. He had a troupe of very keen boys who were determined to earn Queen's Scout honours, and Dad made sure they met their goals.

When Mom and Dad returned to Golden in 1960, Dad became an active Kinsman, and worked on the Centennial Arena Building committee. We'll have to ask him what other projects they took on during his years. Dad also volunteered as a probation officer for young boys.

Dad was active politically, too. In 1966 he ran as a Liberal candidate for MLA, and garnered more votes than any Liberal had before or since. I think he is just too honest for politics.

Dad has not been active in any service clubs for quite a few years now, but that does not mean his support of our community is any less. It is just less visible, unless you read the fine print of the "thank you's" that regularly crop up in the paper. As a small business owner, Dad gave to a myriad of Community fundraisers. Those requests for support are ongoing and more frequent than most of us know and without the small businesses that support every fundraiser that comes down the pike, many initiatives would never succeed.

Denise Shular

This October, the Golden and District Arts Council celebrated it's 40th year anniversary, and Auntie Denny has been there since the beginning.

After moving to Golden at the age of 12 - in the 1970's Denise became involved in the local drama club and the Golden Players. Chris Schiesser, of the Golden & District Museum badly needed money to get their projects off the ground. Chris and Denise knew you had to apply to the government to get grants, but had just learnt that you had to be an arts council to get these grants - and so - that's what they did. They got together and started an arts council.

Denise recently told the Golden Star that she remembers getting together with the new board for the first time when the arts council was created. She thinks there were seven board members, but can’t be sure as it was such a long time ago. They all got together and came up with a constitution - it took hours - she remembered.

Old council records show that the founding members of the Golden and District Arts Council were Denise, Chris Schiesser, Jack Marvel, Art Martens, Margaret Jones and Mike Redfern. The longest serving member, according to the records that the present council dug up, is Svend Kuhle. Kuhle was active on council for about 15 years.

During the first few years of the Arts Council, the members brought shows in from the Vancouver Art Gallery as well as Slocan Valley. Shows were put on in anywhere from the basement of the Civic Center to Denise's home. Of course they didn't have props or lighting equipment then - so the actors had to bring their own.

As Golden's Mayor Benty was quoted in the Golden Star "The arts council is an integral part of our community creating vibrancy, liveability and a strong sense of place." I couldn't agree with Benty more.

Thank you to my Great Aunt Denny who without, Golden might not have realized the Arts Council when they did - and who knows, maybe they'd still be operating out of someones baseement without her.

To make a donation to the Crandlemire-Keenleyside Family Legacy Fund, please click here.

Joshua Hunt

Josh, like Auntie Isabelle, has been involved in Golden in a subtle, consistent way.

Throughout Josh's time in high school he has coached community soccer, coached basketball for intermediate kids, participated in the Relay for Life a couple of times, and collected for the food bank. He recently told his mom that "maybe he should think about doing more rather than being a bad ass" (which he, of course, is not - she said).

I asked Josh why he got involved and what he got out of it:

"Well with coaching I just enjoy the sport and it is fun to see all the kids smiles when their hard work pays off. With the relay it is nice to help support fighting cancer especially since it affects so many people and I want to help fight it. When Ayla and I collected food for the food bank it started with her mom saying our generation doesn't help anyone out anymore so we figured we would change that. "

I know that he, like the rest of us cousins, have felt the intrinsic reward of community involvement. I don't know where Josh's studies will take him after Golden - but I know that wherever he ends up the community where he calls home will be lucky to have him.

Isabelle Robinson

Isabelle has been involved in her community, Calgary, in a perhaps more subtle way than some of the ways other families have been. Subtle, but no less important.

Auntie Isabelle has been donating blood for some twenty five years.  For the first couple of those year (about five), Uncle Dale would drive her to the clinic and wait patiently until she was finished.  One day, she recalls, Dale decided that he should too.

Here are some facts about blood donation:

Every minute of every day, someone in Canada needs blood. Much of the blood that is transfused every year is done under emergency or trauma situations. In Canada, hundreds of thousands of people each year receive blood components or blood products following accidents, during surgery or for cancer treatments, burn therapy, hemophilia and other blood-related diseases.

• The average amount of blood in one person is five litres or 10.5 pints
• There are approximately 450 ml of blood in a unit
• On average, 4.6 units of blood are required per patient
• In 2004/2005 Canadian Blood Services collected approximately 850,000 units of whole blood

Through their donations, Isabelle and Dale potentially impacted the lives of nearly 25 people.  Their donations might even have saved those 25 lives.  To me, it's a pretty impressive way to be involved in your community. So much so that it has inspired me to start donating blood through the drives that happen at work.

Isabelle is an A, Uncle Dale was an O.
I'm A positive - do you know what you are?

Evelyn Keenleyside

Mom won her award for the economic impact of her volunteer activity with the Community Resources Society, but that is not the sum total of Mom's community spirit.

Mom started as a Brownie Leader when Debra was about six, and continued her involvement as the District Commissioner. That early training helped Mom to realize herself as an effective leader in volunteer and paid positions. At the same time, Mom was starting to take distance Education classes, and then, when available, classes at the (then) East Kootenay Community College.

Mom's great gift as a board member of the Golden Community Resources Society, and the Golden and District Community Foundation is, I think, her willingness to state her opinion and truth, even when it goes against the popular trend. She recognizes that the strength of a volunteer board is in its diversity and open discussion of issues. Although Mom has left the Foundation board, she still is giving to a cause she believes in. She recently donated one of her lap quilts to the first Foundation raffle, which was a great success.

When Mom graduated with her Master's Degree, in Applied Behavioral Psychology, she put that to work with a group looking to organize counseling for abusive men. I know I am leaving out many of the initiatives she was involved with; mainly because I don't know enough about them.

Mom volunteers for fun, too. Every time Kara organized a community of readers for a school, Mom would be first up to read. When Kara wanted to create a quilt with a school, (the Virtues project) Mom helped many of the 100 students make quilt blocks, and then put the quilt together.

Our mom has been a model of life long learning, and life long giving.

Kara Hunt

In brainstorming a story for Auntie Kara - we were fortunate to have a lot of options of things to write about.  We all know that she is very active in the school system - no matter the school she is currently teaching in.  She organizes amazing school trips, she spearheaded the Free The Children Project to build a school, she continues to collect sample soaps from hotels (and encourages us to do the same) to donate to the Womens Center - and more recently to the high school.

One of the areas where Auntie Kara has a passion is Social Justice.

The BCTF is proud of its history as a social justice union. This means that as an organization of professionals, they accept and act on their broad responsibility to be involved in the social development of the communities and the province they live in, and they do this in the interests of the children they teach.  Something to know is that while the BCTF encourages the sort of participation that you're about to read about - it's not a job requirement.  The time and energy that Auntie Kara has dedicated to Social Justice - was her own.

Social Justice initiatives focus on poverty, child and youth issues, race relations, gender equity, homophobia and heterosexism, bullying, environmental issues, globalization, and violence prevention.

I reached out to Auntie Kara and asked her to tell me about her experiences with Social Justice in Golden.

She was the social justice rep for 13 years and now, in her 14th year - she is on the Social Justice Committee (just not in charge of as many initiatives).  Some of the initiatives she had worked on previously included two youth camps that both I and Katie were involved in, a virtues project which concluded with a beautiful wall hanging quilt in her school and TONS of teaching around being a virtuous person and the fundraising project for a school in Africa (through Free The Children).  

There are also smaller, ongoing initiatives that she has been involved in.  These include promoting literacy through books for babies and books in waiting rooms - paid for by the Golden Teacher's Association and starting food baskets for hungry kids.

I asked Auntie Kara what she gained from her time in Social Justice....

What have I learned/gained from my years in SJ - the world is full of suffering and sadness and at times it feels like an overwhelming and insurmountable task for anyone to take on. There is no end to the work and needs. And as defeating as all that seems - the power of healing is within each of us. we can make a difference and the most powerful and effective differences have come from individuals who care and who act on their caring.

It does my heart good to do good. I like and respect myself more. I am a very fortunate person - I chose well when I chose to belong to this family - they have given me so much love, guidance, support and joy and in return, it is my responsibility to spread it to others. As I have always tried to teach my students and my children - in this life time, when you encounter others, you have a choice - you may choose to make someone's day better, or you may choose to make someone's day worse - but be assured that you will impact them and the choice is yours - the choice you make speaks loudly of who you are.

Thank you Auntie Kara - for all of your choices.  You have impacted your community, your schools and your family and we all know who you are: a kind hearted, beautiful woman - an educator.  You teach not only to your students but to all that you meet and in all that you do.  We hear your message - and hopefully that shows through all of the choices you see your family and friends making. 

Gift Suggestions

“Gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect." 

~ Oren Arnold

We have already raised $2525!  

Help us reach $3,000!

Jared Keenleyside

It was my mom's idea to approach Jared to find out what his story was. She remembered that he did some pretty impressive fundraising for the Relay for Life a couple of years ago and wanted to share his story.

The majority of this story comes from Aunty Lynette with a few details filled in by Jared.

Jared was involved in the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay For Life which gives individuals and communities the opportunity to celebrate cancer survivors, remember and honour loved ones lost to cancer and fight back against all cancers. He was already involved in the fundraising when he found out that our Auntie Elaine was diagnosed with Cancer, that combined with his friend Matt's diagnoses - had him working like none other to garner donations.


He would go to every house in reach and if they didn't have money right then or if they weren't home, he wrote down their name and address and would return until they gave him something. Even more extreme, he put his hair in dozens of ponytails and auctioned them off the night of the relay – shaving his head in the process.

In two years he raised a total of $1,800 ($600 the first and $1,200 the second year).  The second year, he was the second highest earner.

Lynette shared…

It was funny because all of a sudden all these teachers who had thought Jared was such a pain to teach in Elementary saw a side of Jared that we always knew was there and if they had cared enough to look they would have seen too. They were all commenting to Kara about how great he was as if it was something new. I had people in the community stop me at the grocery store to tell me how awesome my son was. I would just smile as this was something I had known for years.

This year for Christmas, Jared has asked that anyone who wants to give him a gift please make a donation to charity. He is really interested in helping those people who live in third world countries as he believes that they are truly in need as they have no social benefits in place in their countries as we do here in Canada. Lynette and Scott and their family are sponsoring a child this year as a family gift that will continue for years to come - all of their kids are so excited to be making a difference.

Lynette said..

It's going to be the best gift I get this year as I've wanted to do it for years. I guess Jared's request just helped inspire us to make the move this year. 

When I asked Jared what he got out of the experience he said "it just kinda felt nice to help out....I  never really thought about it, I just went for it - and did it!"


Jared, thank you for going for it - thank you for helping just for the sake of helping.  It's exactly what we're hoping to do for Golden - in a long term, sustainable way through the Family Legacy Fund that we have established.

Thank you to Auntie Lynette and Jared who shared this story with me.  I'm personally touched that Jared went above and beyond when he realized that cancer had stricken those closest to him, and further to that - that it has permanently impacted his family in that they are now sponsoring a child.

Grandma Mary

We were all pretty young when we lost Grandma to cancer, so this story is hardest for me to write. Grandma sang with Grandpa in the church choir in Golden, but I am told she was extremely shy. That is why it's so impressive that Grandpa gave her credit for his "overwhelming compulsion" to become a minister. He wrote that when he told Grandma about his desire to minister, she said "That is what I have been praying for". Grandma wanted what was best for Grandpa, and her Church, and God, above what was most comfortable for her. Minister's wives traditionally led the choir and played the organ, but Grandma felt those things were not for her to do.

Something I noticed while writing about Grandpa, was, when would Grandma have had time to volunteer? Grandpa George was so involved with the community, often with Dad and Uncle Bill in tow, someone had to be home with Auntie Shirley! There were not as many opportunities for women, either. There were no Girl Guides or Brownies, and women weren't allowed to be fire fighters. They seldom ran for office, or served on public boards. They served behind the scenes.

Still, I remember the sock monkeys and hobby horses that she made for us (and the Church bazaars). I remember the sound of her voice, calling my brother 'wee Geordie". I remember her at the cabin in Windermere, happy to be surrounded by family. And I remember her soprano singing voice - I thought she made the most beautiful music in the world.

Katie Kotulak

A few years ago, we got word that cousin Katie would not be participating in the Cousin's draw for that year.  She had decided to sponsor a child instead of giving/receiving gifts.  I remembered wondering if she was inspired by the story that Grandpa Bob had once sponsored a family over Christmas.

I asked Katie to share with us why she chose to sponsor a child and what she got out of the experience:

She was 18 years old  and going from store to store in the mall, trying to find the perfect gift for our grandparents.  It came to her, that maybe a perfect gift didn't exist - so she decided that instead of getting our grandparents gifts, she would sponsor a child.

Her name was Laura James and she was from Columbia. She was seven years old.

Katie had originally wanted to to help someone from Brazil because she had lived there, but Columbia was the closest. Katie sponsored her for two years and as school expenses rose, she elected to start giving other types of donations for Christmas for grandpa's birthday/Christmas gifts.

When I ask Katie to tell me about her reasons behind sponsoring a child, she told me it was no big deal - not a lot to share, but when I was writing out what she told me I got a little choked up.  I think it says something incredible about our family, and the legacy that our grandparents have inspired when instead of buying a gift certificate for a restaurant or fuzzy socks when we can't think of the perfect gift - she donated.  She helped a child for two of the formative years of her live.  Who knows?  Maybe that gave Laura James just the boost up in life that she needed.  Maybe it is a big deal.

Thank you Katie, for telling me about Laura.

The donations are starting to roll in! Thank you all!

As we get closer to our deadline, donations are starting to come. I had visits from Lynette and Kara on Saturday at the liquor store and Kara also brought in a donation from Sarah - kicking off giving from the youngest generation! (Jessie, you are the middle :) )

Please remember that all donations, of any amount, will help! From $5 and beyond, it will take us closer to our goal.

Don't forget, you can also use the online donation button as opposed to writing cheques, if that is your preference.

Grandma Vi

Grandma Vi came in to our lives in 1968, hand picked by Grandma Mary, or so the story goes.

Grandpa George and Vi Seaman, a kindergarten teacher, and choir director of the Terrace United church, were married and the family grew with two new sisters, Leah and Gayle.

Vi 's book, They Also Came, went to the publisher in 1987, at the same time that leukemia claimed her. It is a book of tribute to missionary women of the West Coast. She relates the experiences of the early missionary wives, teachers, nurses and other dedicated women who devoted their lives to the people living in isolation on lighthouses, in logging camps, and frontier and Native villages. She always was a storyteller.

This is an image of the Thomas Crosby before Great Grandpa George and Vi were on the boat. More information on the Thomas Crosby's history can be found here: http://hubpages.com/hub/Argonaut-II-1937-1966

Grandpa wrote the chapter about Grandma Vi, who also came. They started their ministry on the Thomas Crosby in July of 1970 and Grandma was a full partner right from the start. She worked, at times in the Kindergarten at Hartley Bay; at other times she substituted in Grades 6 and 7. In the church there, there was Sunday School, and youth choirs. But Grandma and Grandpa visited many communities along the B.C. coast, so Sunday School could fall on any day, in any community.

Grandma's great love was music - teaching new songs and rhythm band instruments. She could often be found on a kitchen floor, telling Bible stories and making crafts with children.

Even on their days off the Ship, grandma would be shopping for people back in the remote communities they served, or writing a newsletter for the many United Church congregations that wanted to know more about the mission.

After their retirement from the Thomas Crosby, Grandma and Grandpa moved to Duncan, where they remained active in the church, visiting and entertaining friends and family. The children still came, to do crafts and hear stories.

Grandma lived her life in service to others, and if she occasionally got lost in a Ferry bathroom, she had Kara to help her find her way.

Grandma Sarah

Grandma Sarah was a bride at 16, and a Mom by 17, and had 6 children before she was 30, losing one, Anita, to SIDS. Despite this very busy, and at times difficult life, Grandma Sarah still found (or made) time to volunteer with the Women's Institute while still in the Okanagan. Womens' Institutes were extremely involved in the War Effort: fundraising, nursing, collecting and manufacturing domestic supplies. Individual Institutes would hold various events such as dances, plays, and recitals as social events in their communities and the proceeds would go to support the war. Many Institutes spent time canning fruit, knitting socks, and making bandages for the troops overseas.

When Grandpa enlisted in WW2 and served overseas in the Forestry Corp, Grandma was on her own with five small children. She moved back to Didsbury, where she grew up, to have family support for the approximately four years that she was a single Mom. When Grandpa came home, (and can you imagine the challenge that was - going from single, head of house decision maker back to the expected "housewife" role?) - they returned to the Okanagan. Their move to Golden in 1952/1953 was made for work, but they moved into a two room cabin! Grandpa had to convince the Doctor's, for whom he was building a clinic, that they needed a caretakers suite. And then he needed to persuade Grandma to take the caretaker's job, so they could have a home that fit Grandma, Grandpa, Mom and Auntie Denny.

Grandma became a member of the Golden Legion Auxilliary. The Ladies auxilliary did things like catering as a fundraiser to support the operation of the Legion and their charitable aims.

Mom tells me that during the planning of the Purcell apartments, Grandma would say she was glad she wasn't going to live there, because the units were too small. As we all know, Grandma lived there for 16 years. I appreciated their small size, as I often steam-cleaned the carpet for her. And every time I brought my kids to visit her, she asked me if they didn't need an undershirt.

Grandma had more than her share of painful events in her life, losing two daughters and Grandpa, but she was never bitter or complaining. She just dug deep, and kept going, making all our lives richer for knowing her.

Grandpa Dean

Grandpa Dean was a Veteran, a builder, a Lion, a husband and a father. Grandpa came to Golden in 1952 as a carpenter working on the courthouse, bringing only Uncle Albert, who was then a young man, with him. Grandma, Mom and Auntie Dennie followed in the summer of '53. Grandpa was a member of the Royal Canadian Legion, a Hospital Board member, and a charter member of the Golden Lion's Club. He was on the Centennial Arena Building Committee. Mom says he was also involved with the swimming pool, which started as a Lion project, but I can't find a Lion to confirm this.

Lady Grey school burned in 1956, around Easter. The story is that Grandpa George, Chairman of School Trustees and Fire Chief was attending this fire, as was Grandpa Dean. They asked each other how they were going to get children back to school?

The next day, Dean was at work in the Civic Centre, making classrooms, and the kids only lost a week of school.

Another of Grandpa's projects was the building committee for the Purcell View Apartments, Golden's first Senior's housing project. Grandpa felt strongly that Golden needed a low cost housing option for seniors who could no longer manage in their homes. Ray Olson, who was a Lion with Grandpa, remembers him saying at a meeting to Gordon Milum, "You're going to need this some day, and so will I". This was a huge project for the Lion's club, but they persevered, bought the land, formed a society with other interested parties, and Golden's first Senior's housing project was developed. Ray believes that without Grandpa's leadership, the Purcell Apartments would not have been built.

Grandpa was Chairman of the Hospital board at the time of his death on May 24, 1971. He had been working very hard to plan and oversee the expansion of our hospital and one of his special projects was the elevator. When the elevator he worked so hard for comes up from the basement at night, seemingly empty, everyone knows it is just Grandpa, checking that everything is running smoothly.

The Countdown is On!

We have just over 30 days to reach our goal of $5,000 for grandpa's birthday.  

All donations will help - from $5 to $500.

Donate now!

Thank you to everyone who voted on our name!  We have collectively chosen:

Crandlemire-Keenleyside Family Legacy Fund

There are two ways to donate:

Online:
You can click on the Canada Helps button on the top right hands side of this blog. Once you click on the button, you'll see two options (Donate Now or Donate Monthly).  After you make your selection you will have to fill out some basic information and select our fund from the drop down menu.  You will receive a tax receipt via e-mail, and Canada Helps direct deposits your donation into our fund. Donating this way saves on administration costs for donations under $250.00.


Cheque:

If you prefer to write a cheque, please make it payable to the Golden and District Community Foundation, put Crandlemire-Keenleyside Family Legacy fund in the memo line, and mail it to the Foundation at Box 1485, Golden, B.C. V0A 1H0.  Alternatively you can give your cheque to me or Jessie and will will deposit it on your behalf.  You will receive a tax receipt via mail if you donate by cheque.

Then please feel free to send Jessie an e-mail, FB message, comment on this post, or call her with the amount of your donation, so we can keep the tracking bar up to date.  If you prefer to keep the amount you donated anonymous, that is just fine.  I will receive monthly statements that bundle all donations together so we can reconcile our tracking bars.

Please note that a few people have asked if they can make a donation and have the tax receipt go to grandpa as part of his birthday present, unfortunately this is not an option.  The tax receipt must be issued to the giver of the donation.

Evelyn Keenleyside Wins Award

As my mom is telling the stories of her grandparents, I wanted to tell the stories of my grandparents. This isn't yet the summary or culmination of grandma's achievements, but rather a note on the recent public celebration that she has received for her dedication to Golden.

Recently, Evelyn Keenleyside won the the Peter Bowle Evans Memorial Award. The award, given in Peter's name is awarded each year, but only if there is someone worthy to receive it. Peter was a pillar of community service during the time he lived in Golden. Among some of his contributions were the initiation of the Ski School for Whitetooth Mountain and with Dan Ringheim, started the Nancy Green Race Program in Golden, which I and my brother were apart of for a great number of years in our youth.

Grandma was chosen for this award because of the economic impact her volunteer commitment has made on Golden. She has been involved with the Golden Community Resource Society since its' inception 32 years ago, and spent only 12 of those years in a paid position. Some of the programs she gave support and mentorship to were the Food Bank, the Women's Centre, the Family Centre, Golden Employment services, Special Services to Children, the Alternate School, Project Adamant, and most recently, Mountainview Assisted Living.

I would like to share the speech that grandma gave when she won the award:

There is a saying, "We make a living from what we get. We make a life from what we give". And I have been privileged go make a very good life here in Golden. As I was growing up, volunteerism was one of the values my parents passed on to our family. It was what you did for the community you lived in. You helped in any way you could to make your town a better place for all the people who lived there.

No one volunteers in a vacuum. One has only to read a history of Golden to see how much people have contributed to making our town what it is today. Golden has a history of great volunteerism and I have had the pleasure of working with many people who have contributed greatly.

But the secret about volunteering is that you get back much more that you give. The skills developed as you work toward reaching an outcome for all parties involved; the satisfaction of seeing organizations that you had a part in establishing, benefiting the people of Golden; and the many friendships formed over board tables and in work parties are all rewards I have enjoyed.

Thank you for this honour and thank you for the pleasure I have had by volunteering.

I think this speech summarizes not only how grandma feels about the community, but the energy and dedication behind the legacy fund we are establishing.

Thank you grandma, for continuing your parents legacy and inspiring us to do the same.

We should be live by next Friday

I am planning to have our Fund set up with the Golden and District Community Foundation by the end of the week, giving us 5 weeks to get the word out and try to raise enough money to meet Isabelle's challenge for grandpa's birthday. So far, the Crandlemire-Keenleyside Family Legacy Fund is winning the name race - and will wind up being our name, unless a wave of people vote for another option.

There is a small handling fee when you donate on-line, so anyone who still uses cheques could give them to me, or directly to Glen Ewan, Foundation Chair. Glen has also said that if anyone has questions about creating a legacy fund, he would be pleased to answer them. His e-mail address is info@emlaw.ca.

Once the fund is named and set up, we will do a larger post explaining the various ways to donate.

Grandpa Bob's Birthday Goal

I met with Auntie Isabelle this week to share mom's idea - and she absolutely loved it!  Not only the name that Nelson suggested (please vote on the side if you have a preference), but the long term granting theme of health and wellness.

I told her that while people can make donations at any time throughout the year, we will endeavor to make the months leading up to Grandpa's birthday our biggest drive months.  Further, I told her that I thought that our goal this year should be $1,000.  We made it to $780 last year - and this year we're getting far more organized! That's when Isabelle stopped me.  She was getting excited about the fund, and what it could mean for the community and our family as whole - she exclaimed that $1,000 is too easy!  Too easy?!

She challenged us to set the goal to $5,000!

So, what do you think?  Do we dare challenge ourselves this way - can we make it to $5,000?  How far reaching is our family and our network of family friends?  I say we take her challenge and take it as far as we can!

Grandpa George

Grandpa George was a Scouter, a band member, a pillar in his church, a husband and father, and an active volunteer. Grandpa and Grandma lived in Golden from 1939 to 1956, and their impact is felt on our community to this day.

Grandpa was one of the organizers of the Golden Fire Department with the first fire hall established in an empty room at George Keenleyside’s butcher shop. Because the town was not yet incorporated as a town, there was no funding for a Volunteer Fire Department, but it was during WW2, and communities were being encouraged to form Air Raid Precaution groups. By forming as an ARP, they were able to get some equipment, and then, when the war ended, they became the Golden Fire Department, with Grandpa George as Chief.

Grandpa was the Civic Centre Board Chair when the hall was built after WW2. We all now know the story of the first work party for the Civic Centre. Grandpa, Dad and Uncle Bill were there, and that's it. Grandpa was also the Chairman of the School Board around 1953, and Chair of the Hospital Board. (does anyone have a date for this?)

Grandpa was a Scoutmaster in Golden from 1947 on and organized a band, The Blue Serenaders. The youth band he also led performed locally for 8 years.

Throughout his time in Golden, Grandpa was deeply involved with the United Church. He and Grandma sang in the choir, and Grandpa was on the Church building committee. Grandpa acted as a lay minister whenever needed.

Grandpa and Grandma left Golden in 1956 when Grandpa answered his call to the ministry. With his Grade 9 education, he went to UBC as a mature student, and prepared for his 3 year stint at Union College - the United Church theological college. When he graduated, he and Grandma were settled in Terrace. Grandpa continued as a volunteer in Terrace, where he was dubbed the "honorary drunk" at the A.A. group he led. Even when he retired to Cobble Hill, and then Duncan and again at the Windermere in Vancouver he could be found acting as Chaplain and musician.

George William Keenleyside set a really high standard for us all to aspire to. I am proud to be his granddaughter.

What shall we call it?

So far, everyone's support has been fabulous! Thank you to everyone who has indicated an interest in setting up a family fund with the Golden & District Community Foundation.

The next step to creating our fund, is naming it! This should be the fun part.

I'll just put my idea out there. I am seeing the Crandlemire-Keenleyside Hospital, Health and Wellness Fund. My secret dream is to grow a legacy large enough to really partner with the Hospital to bring back services such as chemotherapy, that are no longer offered in Golden, but that's a 20 year project. With a Family Fund, we can be as involved as we like in the granting process from our Fund, and this is a broad category that could support many needs in our community. It will be exciting to see our Fund grow, and the projects we could support grow along with it.

What would you name our Fund? Make your suggestions in the comments, and we will put them to the vote!

Welcome to our Family Fund

I have been giving a lot of thought to what kind of family giving we could do for Dad this year and came up with an idea that is more than just a 'one off'. I would like us to create a Family Fund within the Golden and District Community Foundation to honour our Grandparents (parents and great grandparents, too), Dean and Sarah Crandlemire and George, Mary and Violet Keenleyside. Creating a Family Fund will let us get our whole family involved (as well as family friends) with giving back to our community, and the community that our Grandparents and parents have given so much to.

Did you know that both Grandpa George and Grandpa Dean were on the Board of the Golden and District General Hospital? At the time of his death, in 1971, Dean was the Board Chair. My thought for this fund is to support health and wellness, but we would like to hear your opinions! Yes, yours, too.

The process involved in starting a fund like this is that every year we raise a large pot of money that will go into our named fund. Before our fund grows to $10,000, the interest can be granted as part of the Foundations' Endowment Funds. It may take us several years before we're ready to start giving our own grants, but in the meantime we'll have the perfect place to make any community donations or large birthday presents (*cough *cough - dad/grandpa).

Our family has a legacy in the buildings and institutions that make up our home town, and we can continue that legacy with financial support far in to the future.

Please share in the comments below if you would like to support the creation of this fund - and where you think any monies we raise should be directed.