Rotary

Five new $5,000 scholarships will make it possible for Scholarship Foundation of Northshore to increase its 2016 offerings by more than $30,000 to a total of $171,570. The five new grants increase to 65 the number of scholarships to be offered next year by the community-based organization for academic year 2016-2017.

“Our goal is to increase the value of scholarships for Northshore graduates and to provide more of them,” said President Eric Greenwood, noting that the average scholarship in 2016 will be $2,600 compared with $2,300 for 2015. The Foundation issued $140,970 in scholarships in 2015.

“A primary goal of our Foundation,” Greenwood added, “is to broaden the awareness and support throughout the Northshore community for the importance of scholarships for today’s graduates.”

The five new scholarships, all valued at $5,000, are:

1. Northshore Community Scholarship – This scholarship will be funded by investment proceeds from nine scholarship sponsors for whom lasting memorials were established in past years. All Northshore graduates are eligible to apply for this renewable scholarship.
2. Egon Molbak Service Above Self Scholarship – Northshore graduates planning to attend the University of Washington Bothell are eligible. The scholarship is provided by the family of Egon Molbak, founder with his wife Laina of Molbak’s Home and Garden store in Woodinville.
3. UW Bothell Rotaract Rotarian of the Year Scholarship – The Foundation and Woodinville Rotary Club will award this scholarship to a member of the UW Bothell Rotaract Club who exemplifies leadership and community service values.
4. Rosemary and Jim McAuliffe Family Scholarship – The scholarship is offered by State Sen. McAuliffe and her husband to a Northshore graduate.
5. Town of Grace Entrepreneur Spirit Scholarship – A bequest from an “entrepreneur” whose business life was in the town of Grace will provide a scholarship for a Northshore graduate or a student at UW Bothell, Lake Washington Institute of Technology or Cascadia College.

A complete listing and details for each of the 65 scholarships will be found at www.sf-ns.org. The website also includes application and nomination forms. Deadline for applications is Feb. 5, 2016.

Since being organized by nine members of the Rotary Club of Northshore in 1984, the Foundation has issued 1,700 scholarships valued at $2.5 million. It’s assets of $5,600 in 1984 have grown to $1.3 million from which investment proceeds fund almost half of the scholarships offered each year. The balance of the dollars come from families and organizations holding accounts in the Foundation or who provide scholarships administered by the Foundation.

The Foundation is managed by a board of trustees including Leslie Banks, John Buller and Peter Troedsson of Northshore Rotary; Al Haynes, Bob Stewart and Dick Ramsey of Kiwanis Club of Northshore; Steve Dolan, Eric Greenwood and Larry Leonardson of Woodinville Rotary Club; and community members Melissa Arias, Holly Call, Joanne Harkonen, and Leigh Henderson. Executive director is John B. Hughes and the Scholarship Program Coordinator is B-Z Davis.

In addition to the three Rotary and Kiwanis service clubs, the Foundation is supported by the Northshore Performing Arts Center Foundation, Woodinville Chamber of Commerce, Bothell Alumni Association, Richard and Lois Worthington Foundation, and Guidant Financial Services.

For the past 10 years, the Rotary Club of Woodinville has distributed more than 7,000 brand new coats to Northshore School children at the annual Rotary-sponsored Santa breakfast. On December 12th, the Rotaract Club at UW Bothell served alongside fellow Rotarians this morning to provide happiness and warmth to children living in need.

This is one of the highlights of our year, combining service and festive fun with the community. Keep warm everyone! Thanks to all for making this a huge success.

Kathy Lambert, King County Councilmember gave us an informative update on the roads and bridges in our county and encouraged everyone to prepare our home and car emergency kits. Kathy represents District 3, which surrounds Woodinville. She spoke about the condition of our rural roads and bridges, and the picture isn’t pretty. The maintenance needs simply are greater than available funds.

She urged us to contact our state representatives and senators to express our concern and ask them to provide the necessary funds. In particular, contact Senator Andy Hill and Representatives Springer and Goodman.

You can see more details at King County Roads Task Force Update. And get follow continual updates at King County Councilmember Lambert.

A special shoutout to Keith Wells, our Santa and Sleigh Brigade leader, along with our Rotary Elves, led by Chief Elf Erv, who brought a festive spirit to the 1st Annual Christmas Tree Lighting at Molbaks over the weekend.

Several more items were harvested for the Rotaract Holiday Sock & Shoe Drive. Keep them coming!

And as always, a warm Rotary welcome to our guests that joined us this morning and congratulations to Greeter Eric for rocking the raffle!