RSSValley high schoolers award $50k in grants to nonprofits
Yakima Herald-Republic
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By ERIN SNELGROVE
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
Alex Rumbolz worried he wouldn't be taken seriously. He was only 18. Would a board of men and women really allow him to award $50,000 in grants, or would they overturn his decisions?
Soon enough, he had his answer. His opinions did count.
"It kind of gave us the opportunity to be the adult," said Rumbolz, a senior at Eisenhower High School. "I wish they would have come to me my freshman year."
Rumbolz was one of 12 local high school students who served on the new Youth Advisory Council with the Yakima Valley Community Foundation, an organization that strives to improve the quality of life for people in the Yakima Valley.
On Saturday, the teenagers awarded $50,000 in grants for the first time to several nonprofit agencies. Helen Jewett, a longtime Yakima philanthropist, financed the grants and said she's thrilled with the students' decisions.
"These young people are just outstanding," she said. "They are certainly our CEOs of the future. I've been very pleased and happy about it."
The students have learned the ins and outs of grantmaking over the past several months. They've pored through stacks of applications, narrowed the number from 26 to nine and interviewed the finalists.
They had little trouble choosing six recipients, but deciding on what amount to give took a bit longer.
"Not being able to help everyone was the most challenging," said Lucinda LaCour, a 17-year-old senior at LaSalle High School. "There are so many problems, and we had to decide if we wanted to help one person or a vast majority of people. We chose to spread the love."
Many of the grants were awarded to organizations that benefit youths, from mentoring services for the homeless to the Pegasus Project, which provides therapeutic horseback riding to kids with special physical and emotional needs. The youth council awarded Pegasus $10,000, even though the organization had only requested $2,500.
Despite being in charge of so much money, Rumbolz said the power never went to his head.
"I haven't seen the money. It's not like I can be drooling over it," he said. "At first, it was math more than anything, just trying to figure out how to divide it up."
John Colgan, president of the Yakima Valley Community Foundation, served as the council's guide. He said the teenagers more than exceeded his expectations. Not only were they professional and reliable, but they also did their homework and worked as a cohesive team.
"Their hearts were touched through this process," he said. "I saw these very young people as very wise people. I saw them as very caring and compassionate. These kids represent hope for tomorrow."
Although the board made the final decision on the grant recipients, it unanimously supported the students' recommendations, Colgan said.
"They got that it was important," Colgan said about the youth council. "They learned together, studied together. ... They were so much fun to work with."
Being interviewed by teenagers was a new experience for the applicants as well. They too said the experience was rewarding.
"Youths are used to trying to get money, not giving money," said Mary Zylstra, program director for the Pegasus Project. "We were really blown away by all of the students. They had a lot of great questions for us."
Barbara Greco, executive director of For a Better Tomorrow, a Yakima civic improvement group, said she never underestimated the students' capabilities.
"It turned out to be exactly what I thought it would be," said Greco, who's working to help local homeless kids. "I know that kids are pretty smart and pretty savvy. I think they understand the need of kids, probably more than others."
The students, who meet several times a year, serve on the council until they graduate. Beginning this spring, the foundation will seek to fill eight vacancies. Students are chosen through a screening process between the foundation and the individual schools.
Lucinda LaCour hopes her replacement will take the job seriously, and she hopes adults too will come to appreciate what teens have to offer.
"We do go to school. We do establish our own goals and morals," she said. "Everyone says we will need to lead one day. They don't understand we need opportunities to lead now."
* Erin Snelgrove can be reached at 577-7684 or esnelgrove@yakimaherald.com.
Meet the council
Formed in 2004, the Yakima Valley Community Foundation works to improve the cultural, social, economic and educational facets of life for residents in the Yakima Valley. It has awarded close to $1 million since its inception. It will award an additional $600,000 to $700,000 this year.
Twelve students took part in all facets of grantmaking for the new Helen N. Jewett Endowment for Philanthropy, made possible when Jewett donated $1.25 million to the foundation.
From interest earned, $50,000 will be awarded each year in perpetuity. Grants are given to nonprofit agencies that address the Valley's diverse needs, including child development, the arts, medical treatments and sports.
Members of the Youth Advisory Council are:
* Oscar Covarrubias and Rachel Davis, Davis High School
* Sean Greenside and Matt Rossow, East Valley High School
* Dujie Tahat and Alex Rumbolz, Eisenhower High School
* Lucinda LaCour and Matt Smith, La Salle High School
* Caleb Box and Amy Van Beek, Riverside Christian High School
* Jessica Stanley and Nathan Thompson, West Valley High School
And the money goes to ...
Here are the recipients of $50,000 in grants from the Yakima Valley Community Foundation Youth Advisory Council:
* For a Better Tomorrow: $6,000. The award is being presented to Rod's House, which, starting this spring, will give Yakima's homeless youth somewhere to turn for assistance. The grant will fund a mentoring program to train volunteers to help kids learn to understand and communicate their feelings, relate to their peers and develop healthy relationships.
* Central Washington Mountain Rescue: $5,000. Through this service, well-trained volunteers help people who are lost or injured in the outdoors. The money will be used to purchase advanced emergency services equipment.
* Yakima Symphony Orchestra: $5,000. The grant will help the orchestra sponsor Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) on Nov. 2. The All Souls Day celebration of life includes musical and liturgical traditions. The event, designed to bring the area's diverse population together, will culminate with a concert at The Seasons performance hall.
* The First Tee: $3,000. The new program will be open to all children, but it will also seek out kids who wouldn't ordinarily be exposed to golf because of personal or financial reasons. The program's goal is to use golf to promote character development and strong values, including respect, confidence, honesty and sportsmanship.
* INSPIRE Kids: $21,000. This program aims to expose music and visual arts to poor and low-achieving Yakima Valley students with limited English abilities. The money will enable the formation of an eight-piece marimba band, which will introduce instrumental music to young kids. The Yakima Symphony Orchestra's Ensembles in the Schools program will be expanded for fourth-graders, and the Artist in Residence program will be introduced to train 15 classroom teachers on the state learning requirements for the arts.
* Pegasus Project: $10,000. The organization provides therapeutic horseback riding and related activities to kids with special physical and emotional needs, such as muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy and autism. The money will enable the purchase of two Norwegian Fjord ponies. The youth council is also paying for the ponies' room and board for one year.
