Scholarships

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Monday's mail brought with it the June 2008 edition of the Journal-Plus. Steve Owens puts out this friendly monthly, and I always look forward to browsing through it. You won't find anything on the latest scandals or anything written by someone with a chip on the shoulder or a bad attitude; you will find a wide range of interesting up-beat articles and profiles of some interesting people, families, and businesses throughout SLO County. The writers must all be like Steve. He is one of the nicest guys you're ever likely to meet and a guy who is really involved in our community -- I couldn't begin to count the number of places I've seen him helping at a fund-raiser or manning a BBQ for a service club. One of the good guys.

And speaking of BBQs, when I got to page 58 of the June Journal, I saw the headline "Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarships" and was reminded that while I was back within the Beltway, I missed this year's fund raising BBQ on Super Bowl Sunday. And that reminded me to get out the checkbook and send them a donation.

As the article states, "The Board of Directors of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. High School Memorial Scholarship Fund announced this year's recipients at a special breakfast presentation held May 15th at Cal Poly. Ten scholarships of $1000 and two scholarships of $1300 were given."

Do you have any idea how difficult it must be to raise $12,600 over the course of a year? As I've volunteered on a fair number of fund-raisers over the years, I do. It is darned difficult, but there are lots of good people in our area. I know. I've seen them working at fund-raisers, and I've seen them donating time and money.

I don't know how many years I've attended the King Scholarship Fund's BBQ at the Elks Lodge in SLO, but it's been a bunch. Steve Owens has been there for a lot of them and is also a Board member. Another regular has been Dale Federer (his photo and that of this year's scholarship recipients is part of the Journal article). It isn't mentioned in the article, but Dale Federer is one of the Fund's founders and still serves on the Board after nearly 40 years. Amazing guy and another one of the finest people I've had the pleasure of meeting.

For those unfamiliar with the King Scholarship Fund, here is some interesting information. As mentioned, it was founded in 1968 in honor of Dr. King, it has awarded about 400 scholarships to graduating seniors from high schools in the city of San Luis Obispo (SLO High, Mission College Prep, and Pacific Beach High), it focuses on students who may not have the resources to otherwise attend college or a trade or business school, and seeks out students who demonstrate scholastic potential and a sincere desire for furthering their post-secondary education. I dug all of that out of a flier I picked up at a BBQ a few years ago and have hung on to because I like to support organizations like that. Over the years, I've met many of the Board members at their annual BBQ, and they are the kind of people you'd like to work with or have as neighbors. Most of them are (or were) involved as staff or faculty at Cal Poly, Cuesta College, or SLO High School.

As you can no doubt tell, I'm a fan. If you'd like to help the King Scholarship Fund raise funds for next year's scholarships, head to the Elks Lodge in SLO next Super Bowl Sunday or open your checkbook as I did yesterday and send them a check; they'll appreciate it. Make it payable to:

King Scholarship Fund and mail it to them at P.O. Box 1693, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406-1693.
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