Summer 2007 - The Alpine Club of Canada

Long time Club member makes generous donation
BY LYNN MARTEL
Whether slogging up a long
hillside to reach a mountain
peak, cooking over a hot stove
at General Mountaineering Camps or
toiling away for long hours on a special
project, Bev Bendell-Downing has found
any Alpine Club of Canada activity she
participated in over the past 36 years to be
a constant source of enjoyment.
A member since 1971, when she joined
the Calgary Section, there’s hardly a
position in the Club that hasn’t benefi ted
from her enthusiasm and talents. She’s
been Chair of both the Calgary and
Rocky Mountain Sections, in addition
to serving as Calgary Section Librarian,
Treasurer and newsletter Editor. She
served on the Awards and Endowment
Fund Committees, as Huts Committee
Work Party Coordinator and as Club
Librarian.
In 1976 she participated on her fi rst
national activity, a Nepal trek, and in 1978
at her fi rst GMC, where she would keep
many campers happy with her cooking
talents for years afterwards. She also
took on special projects, displaying her
desktop publishing talents by producing
the invaluable Members’ Handbook in 1996
and 2000. Many a Club member covets
another of her projects, a brochure titled,
Old books are like old friends, they need to be
treated kindly.
Starting when the offi ce was located
in Banff Alberta, and Bendell-Downing
was one of only three staff members,
she became Facilities/Activities
Administration Manager.
In 1985, Bendell-Downing – who
was Bev Bendell before she met the very
charming Joe Downing on a cruise and
they were married two years ago – was
awarded the Distinguished Service
Award, and in 1998 the A.O. Wheeler
Legacy Award.
“Th e Club is something I was
committed to,” Bendell-Downing said.
“I’m a project type person, and with the
Club there was always something that
needed to be done, and never enough
people to get it all done.”
So, when Bendell-Downing learned
she hasn’t much time left on this earth
as doctors diagnosed her brain cancer
as inoperable, she decided to make a
signifi cant donation to the Club she feels
has given her so much.
In recognition of her long-standing
interest and devotion to the Club’s
Library and Archives, Bendell-Downing’s
donation of $100,000 will benefi t the
ACC Library and Mountain Culture
Committee. As such, at the March
2007 Executive Committee meeting,
the decision was made to place her
generous donation in a new permanent
ACC fund under the jurisdiction of the
Mountain Culture Committee, and for
it to be named the Bev Bendell Library
Fund. Executive Committee members
agreed that as a permanent fund the
principal should not be touched, and
the annual investment income from the
fund would be allocated to the Mountain
Culture Committee, to be used for
the purchase of books for the ACC
Library, and the remainder to be used for
whatever purpose the Mountain Culture
Committee deems appropriate, with
ACC Library and book-related purposes
taking fi rst priority.
Combining a visit to Canmore,
Alberta in March to present her donation
to the ACC, Bendell-Downing and her
husband also presented a cheque for
$60,000 to the Bow Valley SPCA, in
recognition of her love of both dogs and
cats.
Although enormously generous, this
is not Bendell-Downing’s fi rst substantial
contribution to the ACC. In 2005, she
donated $50,000 towards the re-building
of Fay Hut, and in 2006, she donated
$10,000 towards the Canadian Alpine
Journal digitization project, as well as her
collection of artwork to the Canmore
Clubhouse.
“Many of you may wonder why I choose to give my time and make a signifi cant fi nancial
donation to the Alpine Club. Despite never having held an offi ce on the National Executive,
I have found the Club to be a major source of enjoyment, whether it was slogging up a
long hillside to a mountain peak or putting in hours on various projects. Not only is there
a personal gratifi cation in working on Club projects, but also one in being part of a huge
volunteer team within the ACC. Th is volunteer team, with the assistance of the offi ce staff ,
of whom I was once a member, keeps the Club going and makes projects such as the Fay Hut
and Boswell Cabin a reality. Reality is today and tomorrow, for those of us active today and
those who will become members tomorrow.”
You can read more about the Bev Bendell Library Fund at
www.alpineclubofcanada.ca/funds/index.html
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