Penhold Crossing Secondary School hasn't even opened its doors yet but it already has received three scholarships for graduating students totalling $500,000 from Stewart and Eileen Ford.
Three annual Ford Family Scholarships of $5,000 each will be provided for academics, citizenship, and applied/practical arts. For Stewart, whose great-grandfather arrived from Ontario in 1884, it's a tribute to the generations of his family who have thrived in the Penhold area.
“The family business began as a machine dealership, and branched into an enterprise that involved lumber, retail building supplies, and horse-trading. But my family were also farmers of the land, and they bought the CPR farm in 1926,” said Stewart in a press release.
Stewart started with the business in 1958 and became more involved with the building supply end – eventually dropping the machining division, which was the oldest operating International Harvester Company in North America.
The family has since downsized the farmland and all of the original businesses have been sold. What remains is their solid community-mindedness and generosity of spirit, which gave rise to the family enterprise in the first place.
“In the family I came from, giving back to the community was part of the routine,” said Stewart. “I grew up working hard and learned very young that I could direct money to do good things for other people.
“When the opportunity came up to support the new school, we stepped up quickly because we are so very pleased to have a school of this calibre here,” he added. “Everyone is excited about the beautiful building and the strong leadership at Penhold Crossing. If this scholarship adds to this project, we are very proud.
Both of Stewart's parents were teachers, and Eileen also taught briefly at Penhold School before their two children were born. Now their grandchildren attend Penhold School, and their oldest grandchild will be part of the first Grade 7 class at Penhold Crossing Secondary School, which is opening for the 2014-15 school year.
“We left a great deal of the scholarship criteria in Principal Mark Crawford's hands, because we very much wanted to support his priorities,” said Steward. “This school is in good hands and we can't speak highly enough of him.”
