photo courtesy of VCCF

Morgan McLeod, Newbury Park High School, recipient of William A. and Cynthia D. Fairburn Memorial Scholarship.

photo courtesy of VCCF

Nathisha Kalpage, Moorpark High School graduate, recipient of the William A. and Cynthia D. Fairburn Memorial Scholarship, along with Kerry Roscoe, Ted Jensen, of the VCCF Scholarship Application Processing, Technical Compliance, and Selection Committee, Mary Schwabauer, VCCF Board of Directors Chair and Scholarship Selection Committee Member and Hugh Ralston, VCCF president.

The Ventura County Community Foundation handed out 354 scholarships at its 2008 Scholarship Awards Reception on June 5th at the Ventura County Office of Education hosted by Haas Automation, Inc. 2,332 individual scholarship applications were received this year. The number of VCCF scholarships has exploded since 1993 when $5,000 in scholarships was awarded. Including 2008s awards, VCCF will have awarded over $4 million. The scholarships are awarded from over 77 funds, totaling more than $17 million that are set up at VCCF in memorial, designated and named scholarship funds.

New funds this year included the Ann Marie Education Fund Scholarship, a $500 award this year to a CSUCI student majoring in education and planning to go into the teaching profession and the Orfalea Forgivable Loan Award Fund that provides an additional supplement of $1,462.50 per recipient to the Ventura County Medical Education Funds $5,000 forgivable loan awards to nursing students who agree to practice in Ventura County for a minimum of two years following completion of their studies.

We are delighted to partner with so many dedicated and generous donors, each of whom has made an investment in the future of Ventura County students. This is a key element of the Foundations mission to promote philanthropy, noted VCCF president Hugh Ralston. We are proud to continue the important tradition of one generation staking the next.

We are also enormously grateful to the many volunteers who help VCCFs dedicated scholarship team review applications, ensure technical compliance with the donor requirements and make recommendations to the VCCF board, noted VCCF Chair Mary Schwabauer, a long time volunteer with the scholarship effort and chair of the Foundations Scholarship Advisory Committee. We could not have done it without them.

Mary Schwabauer, VCCF Board of Directors Chair and Scholarship Selection Committee Member notes, Many of these young people are first-generation college students. Ventura County Community Foundations scholarship program provides them with a support system, without which many may not have the confidence to pursue higher education.

This years Scholarship Application Processing, Technical Compliance, and Selection Committee volunteers include: Susan Baier, Madhu Bajaj, Gail Betramo, Sharon Bick, Joan Blacher, Carolyn Casavan, Marti De La O, Sue Eastman, Joe Griffard, Madeline Hess, Kim Hoffmans, Star Hunter, Julie Jensen, Ted Jensen, Karen Jensen, Reva Kern, Linda Catherine Le, Dottie Loebl, Lois Manning, Frank Moraga, Carole Nelson, Becka Pecsok, Bill Pellerin, Kathy Rafaelli, Joyce Resnik, Kerry Roscoe, Barbara Rose, Dharma Ryono, Jon Scheurich, Mary Schwabauer, Berta Steele, Nancy Stehle and Max, Eleanor Tillquist, George Tillquist, Dan Wakelee and Katherine Wilkinson. These volunteers spent many hours reviewing applications to make this years scholarship program a great success.

If you would like to volunteer, contribute to a VCCF scholarship fund or would like to have more information on starting your own scholarship fund at VCCF, please call us at (805) 988-0196 or visit our website at www.vccf.org.

The Ventura County Community Foundation is a family of 500 charitable funds with total assets of $105 million, and distributed $4 million grants and pledges in 2007. The Foundations message is to promote and enable philanthropy to improve our community for good for ever, building long-term charitable capital to benefit Ventura County. The Foundation has been confirmed in compliance with national standards by the Council on Foundations, a reflection of the highest peer review across the nations 700 community foundations. For more information, visit www.vccf.org.