One lucky student will be the first to receive the $1000 Tertiary Textbook Scholarship launched by the Tekapo-based Jennifer Murray Charitable Trust.
Trustee Jim Murray said the intention of the trust was to promote and support young people within the boundary of the Mackenzie Country.
The trust was established in 2017 in memory of Murray’s late sister,Jennifer.
Its purpose was not only to enhance and preserve the Church of the Good Shepherd but to provide for the education and spiritual wellbeing of residents and visitors within the Lake Tekapo, Pukaki and Aoraki/Mt Cook catchment area.
The $1000 scholarship will financially assist the student in purchasing academic textbooks in their first year of study in 2021.
Applications for the scholarship need to be sent to penny@maryburn.co.nz by October 31, 2020. The successful applicant will be notified on November 30, 2020.
Who was Jennifer Murray? She was the sister of Jim Murray, who has set up the trust. In the Timaru Herald , he described the reason for launching the trust.
It is to maintain Tekapo’s Church of the Good Shepherd and to support residents within the Mackenzie Basin.
The church is looked after by a team of volunteers and the committee has to apply for funds for any maintenance or repair costs.
“If people want to donate to this trust then it is going to stay within the boundaries [of the Mackenzie Basin],” Jim said.
It was Jim’s grandfather who bought the land for the church in the 1930s, Jim’s father and uncle who guaranteed the finances of the church and the new trust is named after Jim’s late sister, a teacher who spent all her life in South Canterbury.
“She served on the Mackenzie Co-operating Vestry and I guess you might say self-appointed caretaker.
As well as maintaining the church for the use of the community, citizens within the catchment area of Lake Tekapo, Pukaki and Aoraki/Mt Cook can apply for funding from the Jennifer Murray Charitable Trust “should they wish to pursue or enhance their education in any form”.
Anyone wishing to donate to the trust can do so through BNZ, account number 02-0888-0147565-000.
