The Caroline Kosmas Foundation came together in the days following Caroline’s death and to date has raised well over the initial goal of $30,000. One of our first decisions was to partner with the Saskatoon Community Foundation (SCF), which grants Caroline’s Foundation charitable status. The SCF provides Caroline’s foundation with the benefit of fund management and administration, but also provides autonomy in terms of how the funds are used.
The principal from the donations invested with the SCF is allowed to continue to grow slowly with investments in financial markets. Every year a portion of this return will be donated back into the community reaching charitable causes that continue Caroline’s compassionate legacy. The first installment of this community grant will be in the range of $700 and is expected to be over $1000 by the second year of the funds existence.
The board had many conversations over the last year as to where the foundation money should be granted and one great organization was the Jacoby Centre, formerly the Student and Kids program at Nutana Collegiate. This organization exists to support student parents attending Nutana Collegiate, which includes counseling, support, information, and referral services. The aim of the Jacoby Centre is to enable student parents to become more successful in parenting, living and education. Caroline believed that addressing the social determinants of health was one the best ways in which help members in her community.
Caroline also had a special connection to the Jacoby Centre. In the summer of 2004 Caroline backpacked Europe with a group of her good friends and came back with some time before University life started up again and decided to pick up some odd jobs. One of these jobs was working as a henna tattoo artist at the exhibition. This was where Caroline had a jewel attached to one of her teeth that only she could wear so well! Caroline worked with a young mother , who was approximately 16 at the time. Caroline became good friends with this young woman and supported her as she decided to go to Nutana Collegiate and finish her grade 11 and 12. Caroline and Andrew were at her graduation where she was the Valedictorian of her class. Her daughter was flower girl at Caroline and Andrew’s wedding later that summer.
A staff member at the Jacoby Centre identified a few important reasons that connect Caroline to the centre, including that:
- Many of our student mothers are participants in the pamper nights at SWITCH, an event that Caroline founded.
- Young women, support, mentorship and education are the key threads that connect Caroline’s tremendous spirit and the student parents of the Jacoby Centre.
We asked how she thought the money should be used, to which she replied: ‘Well, we could ask the student parents…’ Of course, we all thought, why hadn’t we thought of that? But Caroline would have thought of it for sure. The students came up with a inspirational idea to award the first community grant to a student parent who will be pursuing post-secondary education next fall! The award will be presented to a student, chosen by the staff of the Jacoby Centre, this spring.