AN
educational assistance fund that provides support for financially
disadvantaged students of Air Force families requires financial
support.
The RAAF Women’s Association Educational Patriotic Fund – or EDPAT
Fund – has provided educational assistance for children of dead
or incapacitated personnel since 1947.
Air Marshal Riding (ret’d), Chairman of the RAAF Memorial Redevelopment
Committee, recently presented a cheque for $30,000 to the EDPAT
Fund Committee to assist it to continue its important work. The
donation was made from surplus funds raised for the RAAF Memorial
in Canberra, and interest earned on the RAAF Memorial Trust Fund.
Air Force members are encouraged to also donate to the EDPAT Fund,
whose only significant source of income is the interest on invested
capital, which only covers about half of the annual grants to
recipients.
In recent years the fund has lost its major supporters with the
demise of the RAAF Women’s Association and the RAAF Welfare Trust
Fund being unable to maintain financial assistance.
The EDPAT Fund currently assists 60 students from 34 families.
The average individual grant is more than $520, which helps pay
for books, uniforms and school excursions.
During its 55 years of service, the fund has distributed more
than $2 million to thousands of students to achieve their ambitions
in a range of fields.
To make a donation or find out more information, contact Mrs Margery
Smyth on (02) 6251 1194 or write to RAAF Women’s Association Educational
Patriotic Fund, PO Box 117, Jamison Centre ACT 2617.
