In 2015 the congregation of St. Paul's Cobden was blessed to receive a generous bequest in the amount of $1.5 million from the estates of Mr. and Mrs. Basil and Greta Yates. In response to this wonderful act of Christian stewardship, in 2016 the Vestry of St. Paul's Cobden established a bequest committee. The committee meets on an annual basis each November and is mandated by the St. Paul's Vestry to prayerfully disburse dividends generated by St. Paul's holdings in the Consolidated Trust Fund of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa that are in excess of the annual financial needs of the congregation.
For 2023 the St. Paul's bequest committee has been pleased to disburse $18,700 in financial support to various charities and social service agencies across Renfew County. These groups include:
The Royal Canadian Legion Branch #550 (Cobden)
Renfrew County District School Board Student Support Fund
The Bishop's Discretionary Fund - Anglican Diocese of Ottawa
In addtion, $2,000 has been earmarked by the bequest committee to contribute towards the installation of a new front door at the Rectory in Micksburg.
Finally, the bequest committee is very pleased to contribute $8,500 to Holy Trinity Pembroke to help support the cost of shared administrative assistance for the Parish of the Valley in 2023. Similar gifts have been generously made by St. Paul's to Holy Trinity in 2020 and 2022, and the bequest committee remains committed to maintaining funding at this level on an annual basis (dividends permitting) in the years to come. This contribution represents roughly one third of the annual cost of the office administrator employed by Holy Trinity Pembroke. Since the creation of the Parish of the Valley in 2018, roughly one third of the Pembroke administrator's position is now devoted to parish wide initiatives in support of our Valley clergy team, including producing the weekly Valley Bulletins, parish mailings, maintaining the parish list, and funeral bulletins, to name only a few.
The Parish of the Valley is incredibly proud of St. Paul's Cobden's continuing generosity towards the needs of our area parish, and towards the needs of our Renfrew County community as a whole.