by the Gazette-Times | Posted: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 12:00 am
Lee named Founder's Trophy winner; Bernhard honored for service
The Benton County Foundation has awarded nearly $400,000 in grants and scholarships to county nonprofit agencies and students, and has honored two residents for their community service.
The foundation presented its annual report last week at a special joint meeting of Corvallis-area Rotary clubs; the foundation was launched by Rotarians in 1953.
Rachel Lee, a senior at Crescent Valley High School, was named the winner of the foundation's Founder's Trophy, which goes to an outstanding youth. Lee, who recently won the Future First Citizen of Corvallis award at the Corvallis-Benton Chamber Coalition's Celebrate Corvallis event, maintains a 3.98 GPA and is active in a number of activities at the school, including the National Honor Society, the CVHS Band, the Rock Climbing Club and the Photography Club. She is a member of the CVHS state-champion swimming team and is a USA Swimming Scholastic All-American.
As a Girl Scout, she earned the Gold Award, the highest award given by that organization. She volunteers for a number of Corvallis-area agency and also was a winner at the Corvallis Rose Society show.
Her parents, Kevin Lee and Marianne Clausing-Lee, were present at last week's meeting, as were Bob and Billie Holcomb, who helped establish the annual Founder's Trophy. Lee plans to attend the University of Iowa to major in business and physical therapy. The Founder's Trophy comes with a $2,500 cash award.
The other foundation award, Rotary's Meritorious Service Award, went to Robert Bernhard, for his work to enrich the lives of area children. Bernhard has been active in Boy Scouting since 1964 and has worked with Corvallis' Troop 170 since 1984; he still serves as the assistant scoutmaster for the troop. Under his guidance, more than 50 boys have earned their Eagle Scout rank.
In addition to his work for Scouting, Bernhard volunteers for Benton County's Dial-A-Bus as well as Meals on Wheels. He serves as a small-business adviser for SCORE, a national organization that offers advice to aspiring businesspeople. He is an active member and a charter member of the Kiwanis Sunrisers Club and reads to young students twice a week at Garfield School.
The names of all the winners of the Meritorious Service Award are engraved on a statue in the Reading Room of the Corvallis Public Library.
In addition, officials offered their annual report on the foundation's status. Total assets grew more than 10 percent in 2006, to more than $8.6 million, said Dick Thompson, the president of the foundation's board of directors.
The foundation distributed 5 percent of that money - more than $395,000 this year - to area students and nonprofit agencies. Some $265,204 was distributed in "designated grants." Thompson said those grants were set up by donors who asked that proceeds from their funds go directly to agencies or groups they designated.
In addition, 115 scholarships totaling $65,527 were awarded; in those cases, donors specify the criteria to be used, and the foundation works with Benton County high schools to select student winners.
Another $64,294 went to about 60 Benton County nonprofit organizations. Thompson said about 75 agencies applied for these "general-grant" awards, and the foundation board evaluated the applications at a meeting earlier this month. Thompson said that, in general, those grants show "a very large focus on youth, which is the mission of the foundation."
The foundation continues to discuss the possibility of finding a permanent home and possibly add an executive director. The foundation now is run by an all-volunteer board of directors, assisted by an administrator, a set-up that has allowed the foundation to keep its overhead costs low, at about half of 1 percent. But Thompson said the foundation's growth is such that it's time to discuss adding paid staff and finding a permanent home.
Those discussions got a boost from a pair of recent gifts, Thompson said: The Peter and Linda Sekermestrovich Family Fund designates money to be used for the monthly expenses and upkeep of such a permanent home. And a new contribution to the Ray and Genny Stephenson Family Fund also includes money for building upkeep.