We RAVENs were delighted to receive this lovely letter from a group of passionate students in the U.S. Read on to find out why this group of young scholars chose RAVEN as the recipient of their civic engagement fund.

“We are a group of students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and we are happy to inform you that we have chosen to donate a sum of money to your organization!

We are all recipients of the Morehead-Cain Scholarship, which allows for its students to engage in civic engagement projects throughout the US and Canada. However, as the current global pandemic halted most international travel this past summer, we were unable to pursue our project, which would have been in Calgary. We were deeply saddened by the unfortunate circumstances, as we are certain the opportunity to visit and work in Canada would have been infinitely rewarding.

Fortunately, the opportunity arose for us to donate our stipend to an organization and cause about which we felt passionate. After a summer of researching and deliberating, we decided that RAVEN Trust was the best place for us to direct our funds.

While remarkably similar to the situation in the US, the plight of Indigenous people seems particularly underfunded and under-addressed in Canada. From the justice system to residential schools to public health risks, centuries of cultural and human genocide spurred our outrage. The summer of racial reckoning in the U.S. particularly emphasized the urgency and scale of these injustices and while we knew that we wanted our dollars to support Indigenous causes, we quickly found few organizations that addressed them through specific, systems-level change.

We spoke with multiple native Calgarians, hoping for some key insights to make our donation, but the rabbit hole only went deeper. The importance of oil and mining to Calgary’s economy ultimately led us to Indigenous land rights, which led us to RAVEN Trust.

The lack of organizations like RAVEN Trust emphasizes its importance. 

“Combating climate change and empowering Indigenous communities has benefits far beyond any monetary amount we could donate – but we hope that our donation will help, in some small way, to make the world a better place for generations to come.“

Although we are deeply saddened by the cancellation of our trip to Calgary and by the devastating impacts that Coronavirus has had on all parts of society, we feel confident that we have chosen a worthwhile cause and organization to support. While many of the other organizations we considered are doing incredible work and serving the community, it appeared that they may be operatively stunted by certain COVID-19 restrictions. We trust that RAVEN Trust can utilize the money effectively, regardless of the state of the pandemic.

We look forward to seeing the impact of your organization’s great work and dedication!”

Cho Nikoi,

Jacob Turner

Noor El-Baradie

Harrison Pumphrey