With increases in fees in sports for youth, the Sunshine Coast community is relying on organizations such as the Sunshine Coast KidSport chapter more and more. KidSport began on the Coast in July 2009 and immediately was inundated with families needing financial support to help their children play sports.
During the last four years, KidSport has helped more than 500 youth participate in sports by providing the sport organization with a grant of $200 towards registration fees for the child. Sports that have been sponsored range from baseball, biking, CanSkate, dance, figure skating, hapkido, hockey, judo, karate, lacrosse, horseback riding, sailing, skating, soccer, softball, speed skating, swimming, tennis, track and field and volleyball.
School principals act as adjudicators to the families requesting financial support and approve the registration forms that KidSport then processes.
The KidSport committee is passionate about helping kids on the Coast follow their dreams in sports and try to make the process easy and accessible for those families in need.
That is why Frank and Muriel Daly established an endowment in 2011 in support of youth in sports to help KidSport in its goal -so all kids can play.
The sports endowment is held with the Sunshine Coast Community Foundation. The endowment has increased substantially, and it is Muriel Daly's hope that it will eventually be self-sustaining.
"I want all kids on the Sunshine Coast, and especially those who cannot afford it, to be able to pursue their sport," she said. "I hope other people and organizations feel the same way and contribute to the endowment my late husband and I established."
As the endowment grows, a portion of the fund is distributed to KidSport on an annual basis. Although the community is very generous in its support of KidSport, Daly's goal is to have an everlasting fund for those in need on the Coast.
KidSport co-chairs Carol Duff and Diane Wagner said that all funds raised on the Coast in fundraising or through the endowment go directly towards sport fees for children in need.
For more information about the endowment, visit www.sccfoundation.com.
- Submitted
