We are thrilled to advise that the Chinook Dinner, held at the Nash Restaurant, on October 19th, had a record attendance. As a result of your generous efforts, in 2016 we have raised a record amount for the fund of about $55,694!
Thanks to our generous sponsors, the TD Canada Trust, the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, the Law Shop, and Bee Kingdom Glass, all expenses were covered, meaning the full amount of your donations will be added to the Chinook Fund, invested at the Calgary Foundation, and the income earned used to increase our grants in all the years to come.
The total in the Chinook Fund is now approximately $311,000.
Congratulations to our 2016 Chinook Fund Grant recipients, who are:
- Calgary Outlink providing seed money for a new project targeting the needs of LGBT seniors;
- Calgary Boys and Girls Clubs to fund a staff education initiative to better deal with transgender youth, plus resources and curriculum for those working with gender and sexually diverse children under the age of 12;
- Lethbridge’s Theatre Outre and Theatre BSMT for a production next year of the play The Curing Room.
Last but not least, a big congratulations to our Chinook Hero Award recipients for 2016, who are Nancy Miller and Richard Gregory for their decades of advocacy on behalf of our LGBT community. To name only two of their many areas of involvement and accomplishment, they organized the first Calgary Pride Parades and were founders and key members of CLAGPAG, which became a very effective advocate for our human rights. Both our award winners played key roles in obtaining the rights that we now all enjoy!
We hope to have as much success in our 2017 Chinook dinner in October!