A third of the graduating class at Liverpool Regional High School will be receiving scholarships this year after donors jumped to contribute $21,000.<\/p>\n
The LRHS Foundation moved their fundraising efforts online this year when the annual auction was cancelled due concerns around the coronavirus.<\/p>\n
Teacher Claudine LeBlanc h as organized the fundraiser for the past few years and was determined this year\u2019s graduates wouldn\u2019t miss out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The foundation raised enough money to provide scholarships for 21 of the 65 students graduating from LHRS this year.<\/p>\n
LeBlanc says she heard from businesses and community groups who were all willing to contribute to the fund.<\/p>\n
She says the community has supported the scholarship program so long, it\u2019s now become a legacy.<\/p>\n
People just assume they will be going to the auction each year.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd instead this year, they\u2019ve just sort of paid it forward. They said if we were coming out to the auction we would\u2019ve spent a hundred dollars, so why not just make the cheque out for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leblanc was surprised to see where some of the donations were coming from.<\/p>\n
\u201cKids that just have recently graduated that I would\u2019ve thought, oh, I don\u2019t even know that they\u2019re working, and they put in $25 or $10. All of that adds up to a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now that she\u2019s seen how successful the online effort has been, Leblanc says it could join the auction as part of the foundation\u2019s fundraising efforts every year.<\/p>\n
She says it\u2019s easy to click and donate and it gives people the opportunity to donate who couldn\u2019t before.<\/p>\n
\u201cFormer graduates who are up north, out west, wherever they are, could just click on Facebook, [and] make a donation even though they can\u2019t be physically here in Liverpool the night of the auction.\u201d<\/p>\n
LeBlanc says the LRHS Foundation has awarded over 400 students almost half a million dollars since it started 22 years ago.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n