Eighteen years after they sat down and established it, the Thorpe and Friends fund marked a special milestone at Penticton's Okanagan College campus on April 15 with their 100th student bursary. 

Former MLA, for Okanagan Penticton and then Okanagan Westside, Rick Thorpe and his wife Yasmin were joined by several of their friends, including members of the Penny Lane Society in Summerland, to present the latest students with their awards and to announce their plans to further expand the eligibility for the bursary.  

The bursary was initially intended for students accepted into programs to become teachers, but it has since grown far beyond that. 

"I'm a writer and I grew up in the Caribbean and education was so important," said Yasmin. "When we decided to do this, at first when we were asking for students with English and all the things you need for going further and that was my goal and then Rick is an accountant and he's been in that field, so he says, 'We'll go for that,' and then we kept branching off."

The three most recent students to receive the bursary, Keira Chevallier, Angelina Goulet and Rajvindr Kaur, are all in the health care assistant program. Kaur was unable to attend the ceremony due to a practicum in Summerland. 

"I decided to join the program because I know that there's an enormous need for healthcare. Back before the pandemic my grandmother was placed in long-term care and I just wanted to be one of those people that made a difference in her life for somebody else's family," said Goulet. "I know that it can be huge for people. We're both incredibly grateful for people like the Thorpes, especially in times like this where the economy and everything is so expensive, being a student on top of that is one more thing."

Chevallier echoed Goulet's thanks and shared her goal of wanting to give back by taking care of people.

"For me personally, I moved away and all my family is still in Manitoba. So, I don't really have that support system here for me — they're being so helpful, of course, but they're far away — so knowing that there are people here who believe in us as future healthcare professionals, it means a lot," said Chevallier. 

The presentation took place in the renovated and improved health lab at the Penticton campus, which was refurbished thanks in part to donations from the Thorpes and others in the community.

The couple had visited the lab in 2024, and at the time it had just four beds. Following that visit, the Thorpes gathered donations, which alongside the college's commitment funding, turned into a whirlwind six-week renovation that completely rebuilt the lab.

These funds started as a way to give back to the communities that had elected Thorpe and supported him and his wife, and since then it has been a way to keep supporting those communities for the future. 

"As Yasmin said many, many years ago, and it's still true today, it's our students who are our future," said Rick. "Our goal when we started was to have $250,000 and that was a lot of money back then, it's still a lot of money today, but the 100 awards we have given out so far to students who have worked very, very hard to get them is over $202,000."

Six more high school entrance awards were also announced by the Thropes, for the upcoming fall semester that would be open to students at schools in Keremeos, Oliver, Osoyoos and Princeton. 

The ceremony included a video recording from a past recipient, who on graduating in 2021 in Penticton had aimed to become a veterinarian, and is now in her second year of veterinary school in Saskatoon. 

Her message of thanks was another that the Thorpes will cherish. 

"I've saved all of the letters and cards they send -  I got a couple more cards here today - and I have a drawer with all these cards and what students say and it just makes us feel very, very good," said Rick. 

In addition to the high school entrance awards, the Thorpe and Friends fund also provides financial awards for mature learners as well. 

The main thing the Thorpes hopes their fund encourages, beyond furthering students' education, is fostering a spirit of giving back that will continue through their own communities in the future. 

"We always say to the students, especially the ones coming out of high school and going on, we always say if you get into a situation when you're older if you could pay it forward, remember us and do exactly the same thing," said Yasmin. "That could be whatever amount you want, but just keep offering helping hands."