LdB Foundation gets green light

By Donna Delaurier

The Lac du Bonnet It’s official – Lac du Bonnet has a charitable foundation.

Mauri Rutherford, chairman of the Lac du Bonnet and District Charitable Foundation Inc., said he received word this week the foundation has received its charitable designation from Revenue Canada.

“We’re going to be open for business very shortly,” Rutherford said. “We’re very proud. Very happy. I think we can get rolling now.” Creating a charitable foundation in LdB has been a long-time dream for many people, including Rutherford’s father ‘Doc’ Rutherford. “It was his dream,” Rutherford said.

Unfortunately, Doc passed away several years ago, but the younger Rutherford decided to tackle his dad’s dream.

Of course Rutherford’s just one of a team that has been working diligently on the foundation for the past year. The committee also includes Cliff Zarecki (president), Gus Wruck (vice president), Donna Tschetter (secretary), Bob Draward (treasurer), Gordon Emberly, Daryll Hyslop, Norm Plato, Brett Mitchell, and Bill Russell.

Attaining charitable status required plenty of work, and Rutherford’s glad the committee can now begin accepting donations from individuals and groups.

“There’s been a lot of interest by people who have money available to make donations,” Rutherford said.

“We’re now past the ‘let’s make this thing exist’ mode and moving to the ‘let’s start fundraising’ mode.”

Rutherford said the committee will be meeting shortly to establish sub-committees and move into the fundraising phase.