The Sargeant Bay Society (SBS) announced on Nov. 20 that they have surpassed their goal of raising $5,000 for the Joop and Jessie Burgerjon Endowment fund.
SBS raised more than $7,400 through donations and provided the Sunshine Coast Community Foundation (SCCF) with an opening payment of $9,000 for the endowment. SCCF had promised to match the first $5,000 raised by SBS, giving the endowment a starting balance of $14,000.
SBS president Rand Rudland said that receiving the donations was wonderful. “The fund now will be in the hands of the community foundation. They will invest it in the way they normally invest their endowments,” he said.
SCCF will disperse a percentage of the money generated by funds from the endowment to SBS on an annual basis.
“Then we’ll use that for projects that the board of the Sergeant Bay Society deem appropriate for those funds,” Rudland said. “One project that we do on an annual basis is the inter-tidal exploration in the summer. That’s the sort of thing that we do.”
Rudland also said that some of the money could possibly go towards education signage in the park, although he said they are currently seeking funding from the B.C. government for this.
“Our constitution also includes adjacent wetlands, so there are opportunities in places like Smuggler’s Cove and so on,” Rudland said. “Maybe things will come up that will need to be done in some of these other wetlands in the Halfmoon Bay area.”
Funding is dispersed in the summer, but Rudland said that it would probably take at least a year before they see any return on their investment.
“It’s a fluid thing, we’ll respond to whatever is going on at the time, whenever we have funds to do it,” Rudland said.
For more information see Sargeant Bay Society’s website at www.sargbay.ca
