Peninsula Hawks Scholarship Fund - Gig Harbor, WA

Chapter Since:  October 2, 2000

Students Supported:  Peninsula High School

A Note from Peninsula Hawks Scholarship Fund:
History
Our Scholarships
Support from Our Community
SAVE Thrift Store
What Makes Peninsula Hawks Scholarship Fund Unique?
Anniversary Celebration Press Release
Contact Us

Our chapter raises funds for seniors in the current graduating class of Peninsula High School.

History:
The Peninsula Hawks Scholarship Fund was started in 1984 by a group of parents and school staff who were interested in doing something to improve an already great school.  Our membership continues to be parents or current or recently graduated students of Peninsula High School.  Meetings are held monthly throughout the school year.

>>Back to Top

Our Scholarships:
Numerous community organizations, businesses, families and individuals give scholarships through our program.  They may choose their own criteria and select their own recipients accordingly.  Therefore, criteria are quite variable depending on the interests of the group.  Examples are: residency based on geography (such as within a particular fire district), academic achievement, overcoming obstacles, career goals, community service, vocational focus and many others.  Most of our awards are for a single year, just a few are renewable.  Our scholarships range in value from $100 to $2,500.  Three of the largest awards are 4-year renewable.

All applicants must be members in good standing of Peninsula High School's current senior class.  Students complete one application for all of the awards in the form of a scholarship notebook compiled by each student to represent their accomplishments during high school.  The notebook consists of a personal statement, transcript, resume of activities, letters of recommendation, and evidence of interests and/or achievements such as athletics, leadership, performance or academic awards; community service; employment; play or concert programs; samples of poetry or other writing; photos of artwork, family, friends, hobbies; club or church activities - anything that show what the student has been involved with.  A few of the donor groups require additional application materials such as an essay or a financial statement for their own use.  The scholarship committee itself does not assess financial need, focusing instead on merit and potential.

The scholarship notebook is due in January of the student's senior year.  The timeline and information on compiling a notebook are made available to students in October of their senior year.  For the sake of uniformity, our program requires students to purchase their notebook supplies from us for a nominal fee.  The maximum number of pages which can be included is prescribed.  Workshops for students and parents are held monthly between October and January to guide students in preparing a notebook and to give them access to prior year notebook samples.

Students from the entire GPA range are encouraged to apply for our awards, not just those who have excelled in high school.  In fact, some donors look for students who have struggled in high school but who now seem to have settled down and have definite future plans.  We desire to show students that their community values them by providing them funds to inspire them to go on to any type of post-secondary education.  Students have 18 months to begin using the money unless extended by written request.

>>Back to Top

Support from Our Community:
This program has grown through the generosity of our community to the point where we now award nearly $200,000 each year in scholarships.  We have given awards to as many as 190 students in one year.  We are always seeking new donors.  They are welcome to contact us through the telephone numbers listed above.  Donors may create one-time or ongoing scholarships or memorials or may contribute to our perpetual endowment fund.  The more funds we raise, the more and better we can support students to pursue their educational dreams and give back to their community.  PHS alumni who were once recipients of our scholarships have now become donors.

>>Back to Top

SAVE Thrift Store:
Besides raising funds directly from donors, the scholarship committee operates a full time business, the SAVE Thrift Store, which provides approximately $40,000 per year in scholarships.  SAVE stands for "Seahawk Academic & Vocational Education."  In a unique arrangement, much of the labor in the store is provided by students and parents from different activity groups such as band, football, soccer and speech & debate each month.  The groups share in the store profits, with about half of their group earning going toward their own scholarships and the other half going toward team needs.  The thrift store provides a means for the general community to support the scholarship fund by shopping, donating goods and volunteering.

>>Back to Top

What Makes Peninsula Hawks Scholarship Fund Unique?
By Marsha Williams, President, Peninsula Hawks Scholarship Fund

The Peninsula Hawks DFS chapter in Gig Harbor is unique in that we operate a thrift store as an ongoing fundraiser for our program.  Called SAVE for Seahawk Academic & Vocational Education, it was founded by the late mother-in-law of Ken Griffey, Jr.!  Our store has now been in operation for nearly 20 years, but like all things it started out small.  In its first years we were happy to make in a month what we now expect to make in a day.

Using the slogan Shop - Donate - Volunteer, we strive to make the store a winning operation for everyone.  We view it as not only a fundraiser, but a service provided to the whole community.

Shoppers love SAVE because prices are low - typically less than half of what they would pay for the same item at Goodwill, selection good for a store our size, and quality outstanding.  We emphasize quality by discarding anything that is broken, ripped, stained or nonfunctional.  Only the best merchandise is displayed.  Shoppers appreciate the reliability of what we sell.  We have numerous customers from churches and other groups who buy our goods as part of their mission to help people in need both locally and internationally.  They consider that we are providing them a service by making the items available.

Donors love us, of course, as we are a handy place for them to recycle their reusables.  Only appliances and most furniture are turned away due to space limitations.  We see goods from many estates, job transfers, divorces and garage sales as well as just general spring cleaning.  In donating to the store, people know that they are benefitting a larger cause, the scholarship program for the kids next door.  All donations are tax deductible, another incentive for them to give to us.

The volunteer part of the slogan is critical as well.  While we have grown to the size where we have a professional, though very modestly paid manager, the remainder of the staff is volunteer.  We have forged partnerships with the activity groups at the high school to provide about 50% of the volunteer staffing for the store.  Each month a different group, such as track, speech and debate, football, choir, etc., coordinates workers who man the store.  Their reward is a 40% share of the profits for their month.  The workers may be students, parents, friends, grandparents - the more people who are exposed to the store the better.  Since the activity groups are required to put 60% of their earnings with us toward scholarships for their own members, students who volunteer in the store have a special appreciation for the funds they receive.  They also may earn community service certificates for working at the store in fulfillment of classroom requirements.

Some of our committee members work at the store on a regular basis or in conjunction with their children's activity groups during the year.  And committee members serve as backups at times if other volunteers fall through.  But our other main source of volunteers is the community.  We are blessed to have about 15 regular volunteers at this time.  They usually began as shoppers who enjoyed the atmosphere of the store so much that they decided to work on a regular basis.  Because these folks come in every week, they develop specialty skills such as pricing upscale clothing, rare books, antiques or jewelry.  Other volunteers offer skills such as carpentry or electrical work on an on-call basis.

At this point, our store is generating about $50,000 per year for scholarships.  Here are a few of the keys to our success:

1. Consistency of operation in terms of hours, days open, and quality
2. Commitment, initially of volunteer workers and managers from the committee, now of activity groups and our community volunteers
3. Keeping our eyes on the vision - that we are doing this for our kids - helps us through difficult times
4. Atmosphere - attracts shoppers, donors and volunteers by making it a fun place to be, emphasize appreciation of the part everyone plays, keep the place clean and rotate inventory to keep people interested in coming back
5. Partnerships - with the school, which in our case provides our space, the activity groups, the local newspapers, merchants who donate past season merchandise from their own stores, churches and service organizations which are sources of volunteers, other charities which take the clothing and shoes that we discard.

Our store manager, Kris Hohensee, loves to talk about the store and its operation.  Her number at the shop is 253-857-2800.

I realize that not every chapter will want to start a store such as ours, but even a small community presents a possibility for success selling items at well organized quarterly garage sales in the school gym or parking lot or selling recycled holiday clothing and decorations at a Christmas arts and crafts show or bazaar.  When our store began it was stocked with items that our own committee members were ready to pass on.  Often, they felt like they were just trading goodies with each other for a few bucks, but that was part of the fun!  You learn the truth of the old slogan that one person's trash is another's treasure when you're in the thrift store business.

>>Back to Top

Anniversary Celebration Press Release:

Photo by Mindi LaRose, courtesy of Key Peninsula News
(Left to Right): Ellen Griffen (former counselor), Dele Gunnerson (former principal), and parents, Jean Flynn, Jane Hoffecker, Joan Ryan, Dallas Presley and Sandy Newhouse - all founding members of the Peninsula Hawks Scholarship Fund.

PENINSULA HAWKS SCHOLARSHIP FUND
Press Release, May 2005

The Peninsula Hawks Scholarship Fund, a Dollars for Scholars chapter in Gig Harbor, Washington, celebrated its 20^th anniversary this spring. Attending the celebration banquet were 70 current and former group members, Peninsula High School faculty and staff, and community friends and supporters.  In fact, many of the members of the committee that put the dinner together were founders of the scholarship program.  As part of the festivities, Rachel DeHoyos of Northwest Dollars for Scholars presented a congratulatory certificate to the program for its 20 year record of student support.

True to their program’s mission of providing scholarships, the anniversary group included an appeal for contributions in its dinner invitation. Doubling the goal of raising $1,000 from this effort, the final tally for donations to commemorate the anniversary was over $2,000.  This created two $1,000 awards which were given at the annual scholarship assembly in May.  One went to a student pursuing further studies in a vocational field and the other to a student going in an academic direction.

The Peninsula Hawks program started in 1984 when a group of parents got together to look for ways to improve their school.  Principal Dele Gunnerson was familiar with a scholarship program at Port Angeles High School which he suggested the group investigate.  They and several staff members from Peninsula High went to Port Angeles, were impressed with what they saw, and decided to create a similar program at Peninsula.  The goal of the group for its first year was to double the amount of scholarship money already being given to Peninsula High seniors through local awards.  That they did by soliciting community organizations, businesses, individuals and families.  From there the total of awards given through the scholarship fund annually has grown to around $190,000.  All told, over its 20 year history, the group has awarded nearly $3,000,000 to graduates of Peninsula High School.  In addition, almost at its inception the group established a perpetual endowment fund which now totals over $150,000.  This fund is intended to provide a nest egg from which the school would continue to provide scholarship funds if the program itself were ever to be discontinued.

In addition to raising money from the community each year in outright donations, the scholarship committee runs a thrift store.  In searching for fundraising ideas very early on, the committee learned of a thrift store operation in the southeast U.S. which benefited public schools.  They decided to take on the idea and began the store in an empty portable classroom building adjacent to the high school.  They named the store S.A.V.E. Thrift Shop for “Seahawk Academic and Vocational Education.”  It operated for just a few hours each week, but was very popular with both shoppers and donors of reusable items.  As the store grew and went through the loss of a fire, it was eventually moved to a surplus building owned by the school district near the school but on a public road.  Originally the store was operated entirely by volunteers.  All personnel in the store continue to be volunteers except for a paid manager and two part-time assistants.  In a unique arrangement, volunteers are drawn from the activity groups at the school such as soccer, baseball, speech and debate and others.  Each month a different group works in the store and in return receives a portion of the profits to be given as scholarships to its own student members and for other team needs. Both students and parents fill the volunteer slots, giving students a community service experience as well as an understanding of how their school’s generous scholarship program earns part of its funds.  Over $40,000 in each year’s scholarship awards are generated through the thrift store.

The essence of the philosophy of the Peninsula Hawks Scholarship Fund is to encourage all students to continue their education beyond high school by giving them recognition and financial support.  Students from all GPA levels and all areas of interest, whether academic or vocational, are eligible for assistance.  Scholarships given through the program range in value from $100 to nearly $10,000 for a multi-year award.  Students apply for the funds by compiling a personal portfolio called a scholarship notebook.  Notebooks are screened to match the criteria of the various community donors who then review the notebooks which fit their interests.  Typically about 170 PHS seniors complete notebooks each year.

There are many wonderful aspects to the Peninsula Hawks Scholarship Program, including the knowledge that several other schools in Washington have modeled their very successful programs after ours.  One of the most gratifying results for the founders at Peninsula is that reunion groups and alumni who were themselves recipients are giving scholarships in recognition of the boost they got from the program  It is becoming multi-generational.  We are not quite to the point where a former recipient is a committee member, but that will happen any year.  Then the circle will be complete.

Written by Marsha Williams, Co-President
Peninsula Hawks Scholarship Fund
Contact Marsha

>>Back to Top

Contact Us:
We are very proud of our scholarship fund's long history.  It was modeled after the program at Port Angeles High School.  In turn, several other schools used us as the example when they started their programs.  We are always happy to answer questions or provide tips or samples of program materials to people working in scholarship programs in other schools, and would like to learn from them as well.  Please contact us.

>>Back to Top