Leader-post Foundation had `a great run'
Every foundation requires, well, a foundation.
In the case of the Leader-post Foundation — which administered the Christmas Cheer Fund for its first 28 years — the cornerstones were laid in the mid-1980s.
The Sifton family then owned the Armadale Company and its two Saskatchewan newspapers — the Regina Leader-post and Saskatoon Starphoenix. Former L-P advertising manager Preston Balmer was the vice-president of both newspapers when, as original foundation board member Jim Toth recalls, “the start button” was pushed.
“When the community supports you, it's good business sense to give something back to the community,” Jim Struthers, then the L-P'S executive vice-president, said on Jan. 11, 1987, when the Leader-post Carrier Foundation was formally unveiled.
“I'm really quite excited about the potential of the foundation,” Struthers added. “This foundation is a way of paying tribute to the work of our carriers.”
A startup donation of $15,000 was made in support of educational, community and humanitarian projects across Regina — and Saskatchewan, for that matter.
Additional money was to be raised, according to Struthers, by sponsoring sports, entertainment and cultural activities.
At first, the priority was to use the money to fund scholarships. Over nearly three decades, close to $500,000 in educational scholarships and bursaries was distributed to students in the L-P'S readership area.
The breadth of the foundation expanded over time, as exemplified by a $100,000 contribution to the Hospitals of Regina Foundation.
One of the key milestones dates back to 1992 when, with L-P sports editor Gregg Drinnan serving as the catalyst, the Christmas Cheer Fund was introduced.
The fund is now in its 29th year of supporting Regina's four women's shelters — Regina Transition House, SOFIA House, WISH Safe House and the YWCA Regina's Isabel Johnson Shelter.
This is the first year, however, in which the Cheer Fund will not be under the umbrella of the Leader-post Foundation, which recently dissolved.
As a lovely parting gift, the foundation made a $58,493.30 donation that allowed for the creation of the Leader-post Foundation Legacy Fund, which will be managed by our new partners — the wonderful people at the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation.
In adherence to the original mandate, emphasizing education, the foundation is also working on an announcement that will emphasize education.
Regina stockbroker Bill Ebbels, an accomplished tennis player, was the chair of an original committee that also included members of the L-P family and the community at large.
Hamilton Gosse was the vicechair in Year 1, when Jack Grossman was appointed the accountant and Bill Johnson was named the secretary. Johnson (a lawyer) and Toth (a teacher for 13 years and a vice-principal for 17) were members of the foundation's board throughout its existence. Gosse eventually became the chair, followed by Toth, who for 20-plus years embraced that role for the remainder of the foundation's existence.
The other original board members were Balmer, Struthers, Wayne Kuss, Dick Thompson, George Crawford, Raynell Andreychuk, Boyd Robertson and Mari Stewart.
The board also included two carrier representatives, the first of whom were Dean Zuber and Charlene Neigum.
By assuming all the administration costs, the foundation ensured that every cent of every tax-deductible donation to the Cheer Fund went to the four shelters, which assist women and children who are fleeing from abusive domestic situations.
“I'm sorry to see the foundation go,” Toth says, “but it had a great run.”