Ride on.

Dear Family,

The way we work together to create something bigger than all of us, honouring the legacy's of our grandparents and great grandparents, has been a great source of pride and comfort to me this last year.

Today I want to tell you that the shares that Nelson, Jessie and I donated to the GDCF as part of Pat's legacy to this community were sold for $5,811.50.

Pat's donation brings the total in our Family Fund to $18,383.92. 

Post-Birthday Wrap-Up

Grandpa Reading the Card

This December 26, 2012 marked Grandpa Bob Keenleyside's 81st Birthday.  The entire family (everyone that was in Golden) came together at Kara's to celebrate.  It was absolutely lovely to spend so much time together during the holidays!

This year it was our families absolute privilege to be able to tell our Grandpa/Father/Friend/Husband/Grandfather-in-Law.... that we reached our first goal of fundraising $10,000 for the Crandlemire-Keenleyside Family Legacy fund.

Not only did we reach our first goal, we blasted it!

We brought the total of our fund to $12,572.42 (125.72%) of our goal!  Bob was thrilled, filled with joy, at what we have been able to accomplish in two short years.

Thank you so much to all of the family and friends who have donated and who will continue to support our families initiative as our fund continues to grow over the coming years.

60 New Visitors!

A huge thank you to everyone who shared our 'Welcome Newcomers' post with their friends and family!  We had an extra 60 people swing by and say hello last week....Well - no one actually left a comment, but our stats tell us that we had quite a few new visitors.

From Canada, the US and as far as Malaysia, Germany and Sweden - thank you for stopping by to visit our families blog.

We didn't take in any additional donations just yet (through CanadaHelps) but with Christmas right around the corner, I have faith that we will blast through our $10,000 just in time to set a new goal for 2013.

~With Love,
Jessie

Welcome Newcomers!

If you have just recently stumbled upon our family's blog, welcome!

There is nothing like the Christmas season to have giving on the mind. It’s a time of year when there are so many people in need, and we receive so many asks for support.

Two years ago, my family came together to create a donor advised family fund to direct our philanthropic interests. Held within the Golden & District Community Foundation (GDCF), all donations to the Principal of the fund are in trust. The Foundation has support from the Columbia Valley Credit Union for above market interest rates – and it is the interest that is granted to programs within the community that need support.

We have found that by donating this way, the money keeps working – and works collectively – to bring more and more funding to our community.

After we established our fund within the GDCF, we set a goal of raising $10,000 (the minimum before the interest earned can be used for grant giving).  As we are on the precipice of reaching that goal, we find that it is now time to set a new goal, so that our fund continues to grow each year and we can continue to support our community now – and in the future.

If you are in Canada, and want to find out if there is a Community Foundation in your town, you can check out this website: http://www.cfc-fcc.ca.

If you are interested in supporting my family’s fund through the GDCF, please click the donate now button on the right hand side of this page, and be sure to choose the Crandlemire-Keenleyside Family Legacy Fund from the drop down list.

Please feel free to comment, share and read some of our stories.  We would love to hear from you.

~ thank you, and best wishes this holiday season

99.32% - So Close!

It's not hard to tell that Evelyn Keenleyside really beleives in and supports the work of the foundation as she recently donated $500 to our fund.

Other Christmas and Birthday donations are starting to trickle in as well, so we are now 99.32% towards our first goal of $10,000.

We only need $67.58 - will you make that donation?

You can donate in two different ways - either online through Canada Helps, or you can drop a cheque or cash off with Nola at the BC Liquor Store and she will make the deposit for you.

Don't forget - you can donate now - or for any occasion.

Ask and We Shall Receive

I heard back from mom today...and guess what?!

Our family fund is at 93.32% of our first goal of $10,000.  We only need another $667.58 to reach the mark.  Wow.

I'm literally speechless.

...
..
.

Alright, not literally - because..well, come on.  I'm never actually speechless.

I'm literally impressed.

Yes, impressed!  We have stuck on this path together, as a family and I am once again reminded of just how fantastic we are.

Thanks Grandma..Grandpa...you really knew what you were doing with this bunch.
 

An Update on the Family Fund

I've asked mom to check with the foundation for an update on the Family Fund.  I think it would be a really great year to push past the $10,000 mark.

As we work to reach our goal I would like to reach out to the rest of the family to see if anyone is interested in writing a post or two.

It would be wonderful to read your thoughts on community involvement/community giving or maybe why you believe in/support our family fund.  It really could be anything at all.

If you'd like to share - please just email me at milumj@gmail.com or send me a note on Facebook.

Jessie