History of the Hubbell Awards
The Early Years
The Hubbell Awards is a registered charity whose mission is to provide scholarships to youth enrolled in a Sea, Army or Air Cadet unit based in Manitoba. The Hubbell Awards have been presented to Cadets since 1967. They are named after Major Ted Hubbell, a World War II veteran, who devoted much of his life encouraging the development of youth. He was President of the United Services Institute of Manitoba (now the Royal Military Institute of Manitoba) when he died in 1967.
His colleagues in the United Services Institute of Manitoba made the decision to honour the work he had been doing by initially presenting three $100.00 scholarships annually in his memory. The value of the scholarships remained unchanged for more than thirty-five years until the Winnipeg Airports Authority agreed to support the program and donated an additional $1,200.00, which allowed each of the three scholarships to be increased to $500.00.
The support from the Winnipeg Airports Authority was wonderful and very much appreciated, but it seemed unreasonable to continue to look externally for funding. The United Services Institute of Manitoba decided that the program needed to become self-sufficient.
2004 to Present
In 2004 Colonel (Retired) Gary Solar, Lieutenant-Colonel (Retired) Ivan Poitras and Honorary Colonel Ben Van Ruiten incorporated the program as a charitable organization and were the first Officers and Board Members.
Paul Kolodziej, who was in the Polish Army but served along side Canadians during World War II and immigrated to Canada in 1955, was the first to make a donation to the program. That was done before incorporation. The funds were used to assist with legal and other start-up costs.
Shortly after Ivan Poitras became President, Norm Clark joined the Board and assisted Ben VanRuiten with fund raising. He was followed on the Board by Robert Gordon, Jim Forestell, Robert Vandewater and Lori Grandmont.
All Board members were and are volunteers.
General (Retired) Ray Henault, a former Chief of Defence Staff, agreed to become the Patron of the program in 2008.
The Board's initial objective was to raise $30,000.00, invest it in a perpetuity fund at five per cent interest, and use only the interest to present three $500.00 scholarships annually - one to a Sea, Army and Air Cadet.
In 2006 shortly after incorporation, the Board entered into an Agreement with the Winnipeg Foundation with a program to assist small charities such as the Hubbell Awards.
All donations are now placed in the Hubbell Awards Scholarship Trust Fund that the Winnipeg Foundation holds. That was a major shift and provided an incentive for potential donors. That change saw a rapid increase in the donations and a new fund raising objective of $100,000.00 was established.
In 2005 and 2006, the proceeds from awards dinners were used to provide three $500.00 scholarships. During 2007 and 2008 a combination of the proceeds from the dinners and earned interest from donations were used to provide three scholarships.
In 2009 the program reached an important milestone when three Cadets were presented with $750.00 scholarships using only the earned interest in the Hubbell Awards Scholarship Trust Fund.
The value of the Hubbell Awards Scholarship Trust Fund had increased sufficiently by 2010 to allow the program to present three $1,000.00 awards using only the earned interest.
The program exceeded its revised fund raising objective by 2011.
The program has continued to grow and currently awards twelve awards, of over $1,000.00 each, annually.
Once each year the Winnipeg Foundation informs the Board of its spending limit. That information is used to determine the value of each award.
Because only the investment income is used to sponsor the award, the Hubbell Awards will be available to Cadets as long as it exists as a charitable organization.
As the principal in the Trust Fund increases and the investment income rises proportionately, so will the value of the award.
By 2012, the program was firmly established and all initial objectives had been surpassed.
Award Sponsors
The Hubbell Awards corporation endeavours to fund each Award in the amount of at least $1,000.00. A commitment was made to individual award sponsors that all awards would continue to be equally valued.
Affiliations
The Hubbell Awards is proudly independent. The program collaborates with Regional Cadet Support Unit (Northwest) who have consistently provided invaluable assistance. It also collaborates with unit sponsors and Leagues that support Cadets.