Tag: Fundholder

When Michael Berlis and Ellen Cheslock retired to Niagara-on-the-Lake more than 15 years ago, they weren’t about to quietly retreat into their golden years. 

They did everything imaginable to get involved in their new hometown. Berlis, for example, worked at a winery and then helped found one the first breweries on Niagara’s Ale Trail. He joined a local gastronomic and social club. Then he became chair of the Niagara Community Foundation’s Niagara-on-the-Lake Fund in support of organizations and initiatives dedicated to making life even better for residents. 

In the process, the couple fell in love with their adopted community, proud to show it off to anyone who stopped in for a visit.

To show how much they appreciate life in Niagara-on-the-Lake, the couple established the Michael Berlis-Ellen Cheslock Fund through the Niagara Community Foundation. 

“You get involved with different aspects and then look for ways to give back to the community,” Berlis said. “The Community Foundation is a part of that. The main driving force behind starting this fund is that the money stays in the local community.”

Berlis and Cheslock started their fund with a lump sum and plan to add to it over the years ahead to help it grow and meet the ever-changing needs of Niagara-on-the-Lake. 

Right now, mental health, particularly children’s well-being, has become a priority due to the pressures of living in a pandemic, Berlis noted. He and Cheslock are also aware of the difficulties charities in general have had with fundraising over the past two years to help some of those causes.

“Charities are important, but they may be even more important today than they were before. There are needs that will emerge that will need to be monitored. Niagara-on-the-Lake is not immune to the issues that COVID has created.”

Dr. Lisa Fiorentino had a rewarding and successful career as a professor of nursing and as a university administrator, but the Niagara Falls-born academic knows that the educational path that paved the way to her success is expensive, and not available to everyone.

That’s why she and her husband, Dr. K. James Evans, worked with the Niagara Community Foundation to establish a pair of scholarship funds for students at Brock University and Niagara College – to help ease the financial burden of post-secondary education for others.

Dr. Fiorentino and Dr. Evans named the scholarships after her parents and an aunt and uncle, as a tribute to their hard work and entrepreneurial spirit, and to the loving support that made possible her journey through post-secondary education – earning a college diploma followed by Bachelor, Master, and doctorate degrees.

The P. Louis and Philamena A. Giagnorio Fiorentino Scholarship Fund is named after Dr. Fiorentino’s parents and will be awarded at Niagara College, while the Peter and Gloria Giagnorio Savelli Scholarship
Fund is named after her beloved aunt and uncle and will be awarded at Brock. Fiorentino chose Niagara College because it is where she began her post-secondary career, and she chose Brock because she wanted to support another Niagara institution that serves so many local students. Earnings from the two funds will flow to the financial aid offices of the two schools, and will be awarded, at the schools’ discretion, to returning undergraduate students in good academic standing, who have a demonstrated financial need.

Neither of Dr. Fiorentino’s parents had the opportunity to attend college or university, but they knew the importance of education and made it possible for Dr. Fiorentino and her siblings to attend and to graduate debt-free. Dr. Fiorentino and Dr. Evans want to offer that kind of encouragement to other students too.

“Student debt can be crushing for students and their families,” she said. With the wise stewardship of the Niagara Community Foundation, “these scholarships will make a difference in the lives of students from the Niagara Region.”

It wasn’t every day that Dr. John Hunter was able to join his daughter Victoria when she walked her son to kindergarten in the morning. As a busy obstetrician and gynecologist and Chief of Staff at West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimsby, Dr. Hunter was on call 24/7, so it was a rare treat to have him part of their daily routine. 

But that morning walk, 20 years ago, was memorable for another reason. 

“He easily delivered 50 per cent of the children in that kindergarten line,” Victoria recalled. “He was a big part of the community in Grimsby.”

That’s why, after Dr. Hunter’s death in 2016, Victoria chose to honour her father by establishing the Dr. John Hunter Memorial Fund with the Niagara Community Foundation. Victoria, who is part of the community foundation’s Grimsby Community Fund committee, already knew the broad impact that a fund managed by the Niagara Community Foundation could have on a community or cause.

It also does something else. It keeps Dr. Hunter’s memory alive in the community he served while giving back to the place Victoria and her husband Andrew had the good fortune of raising their boys.

“People stop me and tell me how much they loved my Father and how much he helped them through difficult pregnancies,” Victoria said. “That always warms my heart. He cared deeply about his patients and they were always his priority.

The fund continues to look after those for whom Dr. Hunter cared. The memorial fund will support youth mental health care at West Lincoln Memorial Hospital.

“It’s also for the children he delivered and the young adults they have become, as well as for the next generation of children who’ve been having a difficult time, especially through COVID,” Victoria said. “I thought this fund would be a special and useful way to pay it forward. It’s keeping the money close to home but also taking care of the youth and our own Grimsby community.

Jim Garrett and Alice Klamer see generosity as a way of life and a way of loving. That’s why they named their family fund with the Niagara Community Foundation the Agape Series Fund – incorporating the ancient Greek word for love that is found in the Bible.

Their fund, established in December 2020 with money that Garrett jokingly told his children was originally saved for a sports car, is meant to continue growing long after Garrett and Klamer are gone, and continue to benefit some of the children’s charities that are dear to the couple’s heart: Red Roof Retreat, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Youth Unlimited, thus Garrett and Klamer also established sub funds in 2021/22 for each of these charities as well. 

The work of these organizations, and the way they care for vulnerable children and families and give young people meaning and hope, are important to Garrett and Klamer, and they want to be able to support this work for many years. They also expect their adult children to help make decisions about future disbursements from the main Agape fund, so establishing the fund now gives them a chance to talk with the next generation about their priorities, and the importance of generosity. That generosity is something they saw modeled by their own parents, and a gift they want to pass on to their children that they think is even more important than money itself. 

Garrett said agape love is the highest form of love – doing something with absolutely no expectation of return. Garrett and Klamer, who through their faith, consider themselves to have been richly blessed and they want to always pay it forward.

“I am hoping that this will be important to our children and grandchildren,” Garrett said, “and that it will be a meaningful way for us to continue to help others.”

<!–vcv no format–><!– vcwb/dynamicElementComment:95ab5b41 –><div class="vce-row-container" data-vce-boxed-width="true"><div class="vce-row vce-row–col-gap-30 vce-row-equal-height vce-row-content–top" id="el-95ab5b41" data-vce-do-apply="all el-95ab5b41"><div class="vce-row-content" data-vce-element-content="true"><!– vcwb/dynamicElementComment:adb967b7 –><div class="vce-col vce-col–md-auto vce-col–xs-1 vce-col–xs-last vce-col–xs-first vce-col–sm-last vce-col–sm-first vce-col–md-last vce-col–lg-last vce-col–xl-last vce-col–md-first vce-col–lg-first vce-col–xl-first" id="el-adb967b7"><div class="vce-col-inner" data-vce-do-apply="border margin background el-adb967b7"><div class="vce-col-content" data-vce-element-content="true" data-vce-do-apply="padding el-adb967b7"><!– vcwb/dynamicElementComment:729f5bde –><div class="vce-text-block"><div class="vce-text-block-wrapper vce" id="el-729f5bde" data-vce-do-apply="all el-729f5bde"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When Karen Murray returned to the workforce after taking time off to care for her two young children, the job she chose ended up permanently affecting her perspective — and her philanthropy.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Trained as a lawyer, Karen worked and volunteered for many years in homelessness outreach – first as an employee and then as a member and board chair for Niagara Regional Housing. That exposure to the many problems homeless people face, and the sometimes simple ways that a bit of extra funding could help, led Karen and her husband Phil to establish the Philip and Karen Court Family Fund with the Niagara Community Foundation.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Previously, the couple had established their own family foundation, so they could grant money to small programs with which they were familiar “that had trouble getting funding.” Karen and Phil didn’t want to fund initiatives in a long-term way, but wanted to be available to provide charitable help “with special projects or emergencies.”</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The family managed it on their own, handling grant requests and navigating the charitable donation accounting landscape. But as their first-hand connections with the organizations and people working in homelessness outreach became more distant, the Niagara Community Foundation seemed like the logical next step.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now the couple can continue contributing to the causes that matter to them, leaving the oversight to the experts. Karen said she still wants to be able to respond to requests for help, which is why a donor-directed fund made sense.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We could set our own parameters, that the funds would go to anti-poverty initiatives or to the at-risk community,” Karen said.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">They also hope to inspire others, including their two sons, Luke and Ben, to continue the generosity. “Working with the Niagara Community Foundation means you can start small, but it can continue to grow,” Phil said. “This lets us do something we can be proud of, and that our kids can be proud of.”</span></p></div></div><!– /vcwb/dynamicElementComment:729f5bde –></div></div></div><!– /vcwb/dynamicElementComment:adb967b7 –></div></div></div><!– /vcwb/dynamicElementComment:95ab5b41 –><!–vcv no format–>

Grandmothers often hold a special place in our hearts. Trevor Cooper’s two family matriarchs, Verna Smith and Josephine Cooper, lived to be 99 and 96 respectively, leaving an indelible imprint on the St. Catharines resident. So when it was time for Trevor and his wife Christine to update their estate, they decided to make a lasting impact on Niagara’s senior community in return.

“We were very close with them both,” Trevor said. “I watched them both go through a lot of things and live their lives to the fullest. I wanted to help other seniors experience the same comforts that my grandmothers had.”

The couple established the Cooper Family Fund with the Niagara Community Foundation to benefit causes and organizations that help with caring for local seniors. The fund took little time and work to set up, Trevor noted, making the decision to work with the community foundation even easier.

The Cooper Family Fund was an extension of the charity work the couple already do in the community. Setting up an endowment fund gave the family a sense of comfort knowing they could make an impact on older Niagarans today, and then extend their impact by leaving a gift in their will to increase the endowment in the future.

“If I donate the money to the Niagara Community Foundation, it will stay here and benefit the local space for generations to come,” Trevor said. “I wanted my money to stay in my community and help the people of Niagara. The community foundation will make sure this will happen.”

To learn more about gifts in wills, visit Will Power to find out more.

Tom and Melissa Stack know well how much a bursary can help a college or university student, even if it’s just enough to buy a textbook.

Both received such financial assistance when they went through school, and they’ve never forgotten how much it helped them. These days, with tuition costs on the rise, they also know that financial support for young minds is even more critical. It can make the difference between someone getting an education that will set them up for success in life or going without.

That’s why they decided to establish the STACK FAMILY FUND through annual contributions to the Niagara Community Foundation. They’re intent on helping young people get a post-secondary education.

“There’s a large opportunity there, really, with school costs and making sure kids don’t shy away from school because of affordability,” Melissa said. “We know what it’s like to struggle, so if we can impact and help someone else, that’s why we want to give back.” But the couple’s empathy for the youth of Niagara goes beyond the expense of going to school. Mental health resources are also important to the Stacks. So such causes will also benefit from their family fund. The decision to establish a fund was helped along by the community foundation’s established connections with local charities and social organizations. “I love the partnerships they offer as well as the broad spectrum. They’re very knowledgeable,” Melissa said. “They can come up with the ideas and the different groups to donate to because they are the hub.”

The couple also knew their legacy would be used responsibly. “There can be skepticism when you donate to a charity — is the money going to the cause I want it to” Melissa said. “The Niagara Community Foundation takes that question right out of it. There’s accountability.”