Fundraiser Moves Online, Raises $21,000 For LRHS Graduates
A third of the graduating class at Liverpool Regional High School will be receiving scholarships this year after donors jumped to contribute $21,000.
The LRHS Foundation moved their fundraising efforts online this year when the annual auction was cancelled due concerns around the coronavirus.
Teacher Claudine LeBlanc h as organized the fundraiser for the past few years and was determined this year’s graduates wouldn’t miss out.
“It sort of did my heart good to print off the final tally sheet of the donators [sic] and have a look and some of the names of former graduates and former teaching staff. So, yeah, it took the whole community.”
The foundation raised enough money to provide scholarships for 21 of the 65 students graduating from LHRS this year.
LeBlanc says she heard from businesses and community groups who were all willing to contribute to the fund.
She says the community has supported the scholarship program so long, it’s now become a legacy.
People just assume they will be going to the auction each year.
“And instead this year, they’ve just sort of paid it forward. They said if we were coming out to the auction we would’ve spent a hundred dollars, so why not just make the cheque out for that.”
Leblanc was surprised to see where some of the donations were coming from.
“Kids that just have recently graduated that I would’ve thought, oh, I don’t even know that they’re working, and they put in $25 or $10. All of that adds up to a lot of money.”
Now that she’s seen how successful the online effort has been, Leblanc says it could join the auction as part of the foundation’s fundraising efforts every year.
She says it’s easy to click and donate and it gives people the opportunity to donate who couldn’t before.
“Former graduates who are up north, out west, wherever they are, could just click on Facebook, [and] make a donation even though they can’t be physically here in Liverpool the night of the auction.”
LeBlanc says the LRHS Foundation has awarded over 400 students almost half a million dollars since it started 22 years ago.
She says students who have been awarded scholarships will find a letter from LHRS Foundation in their diploma package with instructions on how to claim the money once they have enrolled in their post secondary school in the fall.
Reported by Ed Halverson
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson