North River Dollars for Scholars - Cosmopolis, WA
Chapter Since: March 8, 2002
Students Supported: North River School
| Contact: | Debbie Oliver, President |
| Phone: | Not Available |
| Email: | Not Available |
| Address: | P.O. Box 414 |
| City/St/Zip: | Cosmopolis, WA 98537 |
| Website: | www.nr.k12.wa.us/Dollars for Scholars Application.htm |
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Voted the Most Unique Chapter in Western Washington - 2004 |
Participants at the Western Washington Regional Workshop on March 27, 2004 voted North River Dollars for Scholars Foundation as the Most Unique Chapter in Western Washington. The North River chapter was chosen by its peers because of the determination and commitment of a small group of eleven individuals who care about the futures of local students. North River is a small rural community of just 100 residents on the coast near Grays Harbor and Aberdeen. The town's one school has 66 students enrolled in pre-K through 12th grade. The town is situated in one of our state's most economically depressed counties, where paying for college is a challenge for nearly all of its students. Residents from North River have banded together to support the chapter and ensure that each student who applies receives a scholarship. Since the small, but growing chapter joined Dollars for Scholars in 2002, they have awarded $14,500 to 14 students. The chapter raises funds through a raffle, an auction, a spaghetti dinner, and by manning a rest area with the local grange. North River Dollars for Scholars Foundation
is a true testament to how the Dollars for Scholars program can change
lives and pull a community together in support of youth. Along with
the title of Most Unique Chapter in Western
Washington, North River also received a $250 scholarship and a
Dollars for Scholars Banner. |
What Makes North River Dollars for Scholars
Unique?
By Sue Carbaugh, Treasurer, North River Dollars for Scholars
What makes the North River Dollars for Scholars Foundation unique in our community and why do I feel we should be recognized as the most unique chapter in the State of Washington? Let me introduce myself and tell you the story of how and why our chapter go started and the people who made it all happen.
My name is Sue Carbaugh and I am the past president and current treasurer and scholarship committee chairperson of the North River Dollars for Scholars Foundation. I live in the very small, very rural community of North River in Grays Harbor County. Our community consists of approximately 100 residences, a church, grange, tavern and our local school. The North River School currently has 66 students enrolled in pre-school through 12th grade and although the school is situated in Pacific County, the majority of the students live in Grays Harbor County. Approximately one half of the students live in the North River Valley and the other half are bused daily from "town", which is the city of Cosmopolis, a 35 to 40 minute drive away.
On March 5th, 2002, Richard Millerick presented the Dollars for Scholars program to our then school superintendent Mr. Gene Avey and the North River Parent Group. Application was made, the affiliation fee was paid and North River Dollars for Scholars was established. The idea that we, as a community, could offer scholarships to our graduating seniors was an exciting one indeed! We organized a community meeting on March 13th, with Bill Leth from Centralia Dollars for Scholars presenting the program to a broad range of our community members. One week later, on March 21st, we held our first true board meeting, voting in board members, selecting officers and establishing our first main goal: to be able to offer scholarships to the seniors of 2002 graduating less than three months from then. How would we be able to raise money in such a short time, especially faced with living in an area that is economically depressed and with no local business district of our own to support our endeavors?
Enter into the story Mr. Archie Bruneau, our then fund-raising chairman. He had the vision, fortitude and positive attitude that we could raise money and that we would be ready for the class of 2002. With the help of several other DFS members, Archie solicited businesses outside our local community in the greater Grays Harbor area for start-up capital. Although the Grays Harbor area supports four other local high schools, Weyerhaeuser, local banks and businesses were very generous with their donations. Along with the state matching funds grant, we had enough money to offer scholarships to not only that year's graduating seniors, but alumni of North River School as well. It was a proud moment when on June 8th, 2002, less than three months after our inception, we awarded four $1,000 scholarships at graduation!
As they say, the rest is history....Along with support from "area" businesses, we have held various fund-raisers, including raffles, working numerous weekends at the Elma rest area (we tandem with the grange members so we have enough people to work all of the shifts involved, and they use their proceeds to support the local food bank), several spaghetti dinners in conjunction with the winter program at our school (this is now an eagerly anticipated annual event) and last fall we held an auction, which was our most profitable fund-raiser to date. Two of our committee members, Mike Blazek and Bob Sholes, visited every household in our community no only once to ask for donations, but a second time to pick up donations as they were ready. It is just this kind of commitment that has helped make North River Dollars for Scholars a success.
In summary, there are two things that I would like to share with you about the uniqueness of our chapter. First, in light of the rural atmosphere in which we live, it has been very fulfilling to see how people have come together, united by the desire to support our local students as they seek post-secondary education. Second, it is very thrilling to be able to say that since our inception in 2002, we have been able to give scholarships to every graduating senior who has applied and to four alumni of North River School as well.
Since our humble start, we have worked hard to build up scholarship funds as well as starting an irrevocable endowment fund for the long term funding of the purposes of our chapter. It is amazing to me to see how far we have come in such a relatively short time. With great commitment and determination by all of our board members, community members, supporters and donors of the North River Dollars for Scholars Foundation, our future is bright with the hope of changing the world one student at a time.