Peachland Mayor Graham Reid and his wife Lorna Reid have committed $50,000 over the next five years to establish a new scholarship for UBC Okanagan students, and to help build a special student emergency fund.
From 2006 to 2010, the Graham and Lorna Reid Scholarship will provide $5,000 a year for general scholarships, and $5,000 per year to the student emergency fund.
“We looked at the need for scholarships, and felt there was a need to get going with this now,” says Graham Reid, a retired lawyer and a member of the UBC Okanagan President’s Community Advisory Council. In what he describes as a “varied career in law,” Reid was chief legislative counsel for the Alberta government and served as Senior Vice-President for the Insurance Corporation of B.C.
“I studied law and science at UBC,” he says, noting that his son and daughter are also UBC graduates. “Circumstances have changed from when I went to university. Students face greater challenges in financing their education, so anything we can do to help, we should do it. It has made a world of difference for me.”
The scholarship funds will be available to general scholarship applicants, with the first award being made for the 2006-2007 academic year. The student emergency fund will be available to assist students facing unanticipated financial adversity.
Graham Reid is in his first term in office as Mayor of Peachland, having previously served as a councillor. Lorna Reid is a graduate of the University of Guelph and the University of Toronto.
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