Storwell Self Storage, a Canadian owned-and-operated storage solutions company, is celebrating 10 years of the Storwell Foster Children Bursary Program. The program, which started in 2012, offers $2000 to a student that was a foster child within a Canadian or American foster care program, and who will be enrolled as a full-time student in a recognized general/vocational college or post-secondary institution in Canada or the USA.
The program was started to assist a demographic that was underrepresented in the bursaries available. “The management…noticed there weren’t nearly as many [for foster children] as other groups,” said Nikola Asambelevski, copywriter and content strategist at Storwell. “[The management] did their research, and they realized that many foster children after high school have a very difficult time entering post secondary studies, which obviously then limits their opportunities getting into the workforce.” One study showed that “For every 1,000 youths in Canadian foster care, only eight go on to graduate with a post-secondary education.”
“The main barrier to entry for [foster children] was the financial burden of post-secondary school,” said Asambelevski. “Taking all that into account, [the management at Storwell] thought this was a group of people who could really use a helping hand…We have a lot of other initiatives that we do…and they just wanted to do something that was maybe more on a national scale that could help a greater deal of people as we expand.”
The deadline for this bursary, September 1st, was decided deliberately. “The way they timed it is so that the students have access to the funds when they are entering university,” said Joe Dinesh, Storwell strategic communications specialist. To apply for the bursary and learn more about the eligibility requirements, visit Storwell’s website.
