On March 12th 2014, Her Excellency, the Governor Christina Scott hosted a fund-raiser reception at Government House to raise funds for the Anguilla Community Foundation’s scholarship funds. Over one hundred (100) people were in attendance and the Foundation raised over Fourteen Thousand Dollars ($14,000.00) to date for the scholarship funds. Reigning Ms. Anguilla, Amethyst Davis, a past scholarship recipient addressed the crowd expressing her gratitude to the Anguilla Community Foundation and spoke of how the scholarship monies were critical to helping her achieve her goals.
Founded in 1999, the Anguilla Community Foundation was created to provide a vehicle for charitable giving and to support grant making to meet island wide community needs. The Foundation is primarily a pool of endowed funds contributed by individuals, families and businesses. The Foundation is one of six foundations in the Caribbean. The Anguilla Community Foundation since 2002 has given over five hundred fifty thousand dollars (US$550,000) in grants to community organizations which work in the areas of youth, education, arts, seniors and health care. The foundation currently has nearly $700,000 funds under management and the general endowment fund now exceeds $300,000.
Notwithstanding the current financial times, the Foundation has been able to provide scholarships to Anguillan students to pursue college careers. The Foundation has 3 endowed scholarship Funds: the Anguilla College Fund to aid students studying medicine or information technology, the David Berglund Fund to support studies in veterinary medicine, and the Mouton fund for college studies in any field. In addition the Anguilla Community Foundation had one donor-directed, pass-through scholarship fund which enabled one student to obtain a Masters Degree in Social Work. So far, these scholarship funds, the first of which was established in 2004, have benefitted 11 Anguillian students to the tune of nearly US$90, 000.
In addressing the invitees at Government House, Chair of the Anguilla Community Foundation’s Board of Directors, Dr. Bonnie Richardson-Lake, said, “As Anguilla continues to develop, our human resource capacity will need to follow suit. In looking at the areas in which work permits are issued, it is clear that we need persons who are trained in Engineering, Architecture, Accounting, Human Resources, Hotel & Restaurant Management—all jobs that require a tertiary level education. A major stumbling block to obtaining an advanced degree is the staggeringly high costs of a University education. Ensuring that our young people have access to a quality education is key to Anguilla’s future success. Your generous donations are key to ensuring that we will be able to maintain our endowed scholarship funds well into the future to support promising young leaders.”
The Board of the Anguilla Community Foundation would like to thank all donors who supported the scholarship fund as well as other Foundation initiatives. Scholarship fund raising efforts will continue for the rest of this year. Donations may be sent by cheque to The Anguillan Community Foundation Post Office Box 1097 The Valley, Anguilla, B.W.I. US citizens can send a tax deductible contribution by sending a cheque to the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands P.O. Box 11790 St. Thomas, VI, 00801. The memo section of the cheque should indicate that the monies are earmarked for the Anguilla Community Foundation’s Scholarship funds.
Press Release
Anguilla Community Foundation
March 25th 2014
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
