WAITSBURG – The Waitsburg Lions Club is taking a step of faith in offering a $1,000 Waitsburg Lions Club Scholarship, to be awarded to a WHS graduate, for the first time in 2015. The club hopes to be able to offer similar awards in future years.

Scholarship fund chairman Todd Wood said the Lions has considered funding scholarships many times over the life of the club and has strongly considered it for the last several years.

“The club has not always had the financial wherewithal to fund scholarships and it has been a concern that funding one or more scholarships on an annual basis could be a burden for the club,” said Wood. “The club would like to be able to consistently provide scholarship dollars, but has resolved to make the determination annually, to either award scholarships or not, depending on the coffers.”

Wood said that graduating seniors and alumni are eligible to apply for the newly created scholarship. Recipients will be selected based on a propensity for community service, ability to demonstrate a defined need for the funds in order to attend college or university, and will have achieved a modest level of academic excellence.

Current scholarship committee members Wood, Brian Richards and Larry Johnson will make the 2015 selection. Wood said committee members can change at any time but that a scholarship committee will remain in place even in the unlikely case that the club can’t afford to award a scholarship in a given year.

The scholarship is just one example of the many ways the Waitsburg Lions gives back to the community they serve.”Most folks around here know that the Lions club has been active for a very long time and that many large scale projects have been undertaken and completed by the club,” Wood said. “But not everyone realizes that the dollars generated during our well-known fundraising events such as the Salmon Bake and upcoming Rib Feed are put to work right here in Waitsburg. The club is always looking for new ways to improve the quality of life for the people in our community and will always entertain suggestions for new projects,” he added.

A partial list of Lion’s Club community donations since last July, submitted by club treasurer Kevin House, includes: $300 to FFA to support kids at the Columbia County Livestock Sale, $1,090 to purchase shavings for the Don Thomas Building, $150 for Lions hearing screening van, $362 for paint for football field bleachers, $500 to Waitsburg FFA for help with Salmon Feed set-up, $250 to Waitsburg schools music programs, $200 to United Way of Walla Walla, $1,000 to Waitsburg Celebration Days, $200 to Christian Aid Center food drive, $200 to White Can Foundation, $460 to Shakespeare Walla Walla for Waitsburg schools residency program, $2,081 to Waitsburg Ambulance Service to pay off building, $500 to Karen Mohney Scholarship Fund, $550 to PEO and $714 in individual sight assistance donations.

“As a club, we are committed to doing meaningful work for the community; not on an annual basis, but as an ongoing mission,” said President Brian Richards. “With the scholarship, we want to make sure we can continue to fund it. The continued success of our primary fundraisers -- the Salmon Feed, Rib Feed and the beer garden at PEO’s Burgers, Band and Brews event during Celebration Days make that possible. If people didn’t attend, we wouldn’t have the money,” he added.