Vancouver Foundation

A Legacy Fund at Vancouver Foundation is an excellent way to support your favourite charities and help future generations at the same time. We can show you how a Legacy Fund offers flexibility and peace of mind. For more information call Kristin in Donor Services at 604.629.5186 or visit vancouverfoundation.ca/legacy. AUDREY MASON ALWAYS INTENDED for her estate to make a difference. During her lifetime, Mason was generous to a number of charities, according to her friend and executor Lin Perceval. A lifelong lover of horses, Mason sponsored a retired Vancouver Police Department horse named Banner at Pacific Riding for Developing Abilities (PRDA) in Langley. Since 1973, PRDA has been providing therapeutic horseback riding for people with physical, cognitive and emotional conditions ranging from autism, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and Down syndrome to eating disorders, trauma, and bereavement. "Anybody, really, going through life's challenges," says Executive Director and coach Michelle Ingall. She says that one of the best ways that people can help the PRDA is through horse sponsorship, which covers expenses of the animal's care. Currently PRDA houses 18 therapy horses for about 175 students. e ancient Greeks knew the restorative powers of riding but it wasn't until 1960 when equine- assisted therapy came to North America. Students improve their flexibility, balance and muscle strength – a boon to those with physical challenges – as well as see an increase in confidence, patience and self-esteem. When Banner "went off to the great pasture in the sky," as Perceval puts it, Mason continued her sponsorship with Ladybug, a tiny Welsh mare, one of the most popular ponies in the stables. But Mason found an even better way of helping. rough a fund she created at Vancouver Foundation, she left a legacy gift of $1.4 million along with instructions for it to support PRDA, which will receive approximately $50,000 per year in perpetuity. "When Lin Perceval told us the amount, I just about cried," says Ingall. "It's astounding. It was kind of like us winning the lottery, really. It was incredible." Mason, who passed away on April 1, 2016, at the age of 93, had moved to Canada from her native England in 1963. She eventually settled in Vancouver and worked as a medical research lab technologist at UBC. She lived close to the Southlands Riding Club, and it was here that she learned about PRDA, which was founded at the riding club in 1973 and moved its headquarters to Langley in 1998. "Her house was lovely because you could sit in her living room and in the summer with the windows open, you would hear the horses walking by," says Perceval. "You'd hear the hooves on the road. It was just a very delightful place to live. Perfect for her because she had her horse and her garden and her cat." e Vancouver Foundation annual grant from Audrey Mason's fund will provide plenty of benefit to the society and, in turn, to its students. "It certainly doesn't mean we can rest on our laurels," Ingall says, "but it creates long- term sustainability for us because the only thing we can count on every year is lesson fees." Aside from those fees and the gaming funds the organization applies for each year, PRDA has had no reliable source of funding. Until now. "When I first came into this role, I didn't realize how much of our budget we have to fundraise," says Ingall, who has been executive director for the past five years. "So to have this legacy left to us makes us way more sustainable." Already the largest therapeutic riding centre in British Columbia, PRDA now has ample opportunity to grow thanks to Mason's generosity. Ingall says with a laugh: "It helps me sleep a little bit better!" Photos: Kaiti Elliott & Mike Bradley 2 0 1 7 I V a n c o u v e r F o u n d a t i o n l p a g e 7

• Cover