Tag: giving

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Members of the YHS Community Honoured on National Philanthropy Day

Members of the York House School community were well represented at the recent AFP National Philanthropy Day’s “Giving Hearts Awards”.

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Arran & Ratana Stephens: click to watch video

Arran and Ratana Stephens are parents to alumnae Shanti (Stephens) Schramm ’87, Gurdeep Stephens ’91 and Jyoti Stephens ’95. On November 23rd, they received the Outstanding Philanthropist Award for their incredibly generous charitable contributions to BC Children’s Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital. Founders of Nature’s Path Foods, the Stephens started their company over 30 years ago in Vancouver. From its humble beginnings and guided by the wisdom of Arran’s father, Rupert, to “Always leave the soil better than you found it”, the organic breakfast and snack foods company has flourished and is still family-run.

In their own words: “We support BC Children’s Hospital not because our family has benefitted, but because we want all British Columbian families to avail of its services in helping children overcome overwhelming health issues. We all benefit from the excellent care this hospital provides.”  – Arran and Ratana Stephens

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Yik Fun Au-Yeung: click to watch video 

Also honoured was Yorkie grandparent Yik Fung Au-Yeung, the recipient of the Giving Hearts Outstanding Lifetime Achievement in Volunteerism Award.

Mr. Yik Fung Au-Yeung began volunteering more than 40 years ago. A retired accountant, he has been a member of the Canadian Cancer Society’s Asian Giving Committee for over 30 years; he joined VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation’s first planned giving committee over 25 years ago; and he helped BC Children’s Hospital Foundation found its Chinese-Canadian Community Planned Gifts Committee 13 years ago. At 90 years old, his dedication to philanthropy is an inspiration.

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2016-17 Annual Fund Campaign Kick-Off

img_0410xOn Monday evening, October 24th, members of the Annual Fund Volunteer Team came together with members of the Board and the school’s Leadership team to kick off the 2016-17 Annual Fund Campaign. The event was held at the home of YHS Board Member Vandana Varshney and her husband Patrick Lecky.

The group shared a wonderful long-table style dinner followed by a welcome from Vandana, chair of this year’s campaign, who spoke of the importance of the Annual Fund to all the girls at the school and how she has seen her girls benefit from it each year.

img_0426xHead of School, Chantal Gionet, then spoke of the many different ways that the Annual Fund enriches the girls experience here at YHS and gave us some specific examples of what was purchased for the school last year. She also announced that this is the first year that we will have a $1,000,000 goal.

We are lucky enough this year to have some brand new faces on the volunteer team, a few families that are new to the school and some that are in their second year here. Laura spoke about how the strength of the Annual Fund relies on the support of everyone in the York House community, and seeing so many new faces along with Board members and the school’s administration illustrates this strength.

As the evening wound down, guests headed home happy, and looking forward to another successful Annual Fund campaign.

For information about the Annual Fund, or to learn about joining the volunteer team, please contact Jennifer Galli at [email protected].