Apply for a bursary
Bursary Applications are now being accepted for 2012
The Community Foundation is very pleased to launch a new funding program which will provide bursaries to deserving students.
The funding for these bursaries comes from two endowment funds:
- Sharon Amos Legacy Fund for the Arts
- John & Kathy Scarfo Fund
Please review the criteria and application forms carefully before applying. If suitable, applicants are welcome to submit applications for funding from both endowment funds.
Sharon Amos Legacy Fund for the Arts
Deadline for applications: March 15, 2012
The Sharon Amos Legacy Fund for the Arts was created to provide financial assistance to individuals seeking education in the Arts.
If you have lived in Penticton for any length of time you have most likely been affected by the energy and vision of Sharon Amos. Tragically lost on January 14, 2010, Sharon was truly a force of nature.
After enjoying a very successful career as a marketing executive in Victoria, Vancouver, and Edmonton, Sharon retired to Penticton in 1998 with her husband, Ben Amos.
As was her habit, she immediately set about changing things for the better. This included spearheading the effort to save Okanagan Lake Park from commercial development, chairing Penticton’s Centennial Advisory Committee, and founding Many Hats Theatre Company, for which she acted and produced on many occasions.
Considering the legacy that Sharon has left in her passing, it is only fitting that the Rotary Club of Penticton should initiate a Legacy Fund in her name, to which many citizens of Penticton have already contributed.
This Donor Advised Fund allows Sharon’s husband, Ben, and her family to advise the Community Foundation’s Grants Committee in the selection of award recipients.
Dr. John & Kathy Scarfo Bursary Fund
Deadline for applications: March 15, 2012
Born in 1924, the tenth of 12 children, Dr. Scarfo experienced many trials in his early years. His illiterate parents immigrated from Italy in 1909 to Vancouver where they struggled to survive. Those struggles only intensified when Dr. Scarfo’s father was tragically killed in 1931.
It was then left to his mother to raise the ten children who still lived at home. The only compensation she received was a widow’s pension of about $42 per month. In order to survive, all the children left school after grade 8 and looked for work, which was an extremely difficult task during the Great Depression.
In 1946, Dr. Scarfo decided to complete his high school education after which he went on to start his pre-med training. He was only able to complete one year of pre-med at UBC before running out of funds. He then took a year off to work and save so that he could complete pre-med.
This need to take time to save money almost jeopardized Dr. Scarfo’s admission to BC’s new medical school. It was only the promise of support, if necessary, from Dean Gage that allowed him to be accepted into the program. And so it was that in Dr. Scarfo’s 3rd and 4th years of medical school that he needed financial support from Dean Gage in order to continue his education.
Dean Gage supported Dr. Scarfo with money from his own pocket and Dr. Scarfo feels forever grateful for this act of generosity. It is with this sense of gratitude that Dr. Scarfo has established his Bursary Fund with the goal of “paying it forward” and supporting other struggling students who are striving to make a better life for themselves and their families.
