Image Credit: ADOBE STOCK
June 18, 2021 - 12:45 PM
The identity of the mystery donors who are giving $1 million to Central Okanagan Public School Grade 12 students has been revealed.
Lance and Tammy Torgerson announced yesterday, June 17, they would donate $500 to every Grade 12 student in School District No. 23 to use however they want with no strings attached. Letters were sent home to parents, asking for student information so the money can be transferred to them.
READ MORE: Every Grade 12 student in Central Okanagan school district getting $500
Lance, who has children in Grades 12 and 8 in the school district, wanted to make the donation due to the rough two years the pandemic has given the students.
“You have the world under stress all around you. These kids have lost sports, they have lost friendships,” he told iNFOnews.ca.
“COVID didn’t care if you were young or old, you got sick and again there’s a lot of stress and all society and (my wife and I) didn’t want to limit it to ‘here’s the good children who are going to university,' no. The world needs trades, the world needs kids that are running the till for a year. The world needs kids to take a year off and clear their heads and get over this pandemic and move forward.”
They only gave their first names in the donation announcement yesterday but agreed to reveal their identities to iNFOnews.ca
The school district has just under 2,000 Grade 12 students.
Lance, the founder, owner and chairman of Vantage Hemp Co. and CEO of Vantage Living Inc., said they see the pressures of day-to-day life and the impact of the pandemic on the students first-hand.
The Torgersons are working with the school district to distribute the funds and confirm contact information for the students. The funds will likely arrive within the first two weeks of July, depending on financial instructions, he said.
He’s also hoping this will spark acts like this in other communities.
Feedback from students has been positive, and they've been told the money will go towards everything from a bike, or a car and one student even said they might put the money towards a tattoo, Lance said.
“You decide what’s best for you, and you decide what’s going to make you happy,” he said.
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