Developer pledges $50M for struggling students
VANCOUVER — B.C. developer Ryan Beedie has promised $50 million to fund postsecondary scholarships through a new education foundation.
Beedie Luminaries aims to remove barriers to higher education for students who might otherwise struggle to afford post-secondary schooling.
“There are many bright, driven young people who simply cannot afford postsecondary education,” Beedie said in a statement announcing the endeavour. “Beedie Luminaries will break down that barrier and give them a leg up so they reach their full potential.”
For the foundation’s inaugural year — which coincides with his 50th birthday — Beedie has committed $50 million to the foundation.
The foundation will award its first grants in May to 50 students from across the Lower Mainland. The grants will be worth a total of $10,000 a year for a student in a four-year undergraduate degree and $7,500 a year for a student in a twoyear college or trade school diploma, said the executive-director, Martina Meckova.
It intends to expand to 100 students a year.
Students will also benefit from working with a support network of mentors, community leaders and corporate partners through the grant program.
Students will be selected based on “their resilience, determination, empathy and purpose, as well as academic readiness.” Interested applicants can learn more at beedieluminaries.ca and apply online until Feb. 15. The first cohort will be announced in early May.
Beedie is the president of the Beedie Group, a property development company launched by his father Keith, who died last year.
Beedie was named Ernst & Young’s Pacific Region Entrepreneur of the Year in 2009, and has raised money for Lion’s Gate Hospice and donated to the B.C. Children’s Hospital.