Giving back was a way of life for Alice Corbin (pictured at left). With her late partner Norma Edsall, she established a donor advised fund at BTCF in 1997 to make grants for education, conservation and preservation in Columbia County, their home since 1969.
As we learned when we sat down with Alice and Norma in 2009, their participation in community life through service and giving was part of a long tradition of giving back in both their families.
After Norma's death, Alice seeded money to establish a new grantmaking track for the Fund for Columbia County, called Aging with Dignity. Her gift allowed the fund to solicit ideas from community groups around the county, where the percentage of people 65 and over has grown by 24% since 2000.
First awarded in 2019, these grants have supported many creative projects to boost seniors, particularly those who are isolated or low-income. Grantees have looked at the big picture -- surveying and analyzing needs -- and also gotten to work repairing homes, establishing support groups and circulating "Safe at Home" brochures countywide. Dances and theater, balance and stretch classes, and courses on history, science and travel have all received funding, which now totals nearly $80,000.
Alice died on May 30 at age 86 [read the obituary in the Columbia Paper here]. We celebrate her life and are grateful to have played a small part in securing her and Norma's legacy for years to come.