FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: The Brandon Area Community Foundation sponsors the Squirrel Hills Trail Park with $22.5K

Valley Life Recreation is thrilled to announce today that the Brandon Area Community Foundation has selected the Squirrel Hills Trail Park as a grant recipient in the amount of $22,500.

Established in 1965, the Brandon Area Community Foundation invests all contributions it receives into a perpetual endowment fund and uses the income earned from that fund to distribute grants that benefit local communities in southwestern Manitoba

The Foundation serves communities all over southwestern Manitoba by maintaining and administering this permanent endowment fund in order to strengthen and improve the quality of life, today and into the future.

BACF is pleased that we are able to provide a grant of $22,500 to Valley Life Recreation and their Squirrel Hills Trail Park project. ‘This project met all the granting criteria checkboxes that our grant committee takes into consideration when evaluating a grant application,’ states Laura Kempthorne, Executive Director of the Foundation. ‘It demonstrates a collaborative project, meets an identified need, a relevance to our extended community, and is an innovative and creative approach to a project including not only the funding components, but with the many volunteers and organizations that are involved with this project.’

Brandon Area Community Foundation

When the BACF was started in 1965, it was done so with an initial $25,000 investment and launched by people wanting to help those they would never meet. Fast forward 55 years, and in 2020, the Brandon Area Community Foundation granted more than $1,000,000—in a single year—to organizations in the Westman region through various granting programs.

Valley Life Recreation is proud to become a part of the decades-long legacy of the BACF. The impact they have played in the health and wellbeing in our region of Manitoba is significant and continues to make life better for countless individuals. On behalf of the VLR Board, I’d like to express a deep appreciation for the granting committee that chose the Squirrel Hills Trail Park as a worthy recipient of these funds. Thanks also to the countless donors who’ve contributed to the endowment fund that allows the BACF to do its work today. It cannot be overstated that those individual moments of generosity create positive impacts and will continue to leave ripples in our communities for decades to come.

Dave Ternier, VLR Board Chair

The Brandon Area Community Foundation will be recognized for their contribution through the naming of one of the new trails to be built in the coming trail park. More details on that are to come in the future.

Through this very important funding commitment, Valley Life Recreation has now surpassed the $200,000 mark and is well on the way to reaching their end-of-year 2021 funding goal. Provided VLR’s funding goals are met for early next year and planning continues without any great challenges, construction of the Squirrel Hills Trail Park is still anticipated for 2022.

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If you represent a family, organization, business, or farm that may be interested in leaving a longstanding legacy through the Squirrel Hills Trail Park, please contact us.