The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG - Kari Isaacson, new Executive Di­rector of the Blue Mountain Community Foundation (BMCF), spoke at Commercial Club on January 7. For­merly of Tucson, Ariz., Isaacson assumed her position with BMCF on November 4.

The BMCF started in 1984 "based on the idea that the area needed a place for donors who cared about the com­munity to make long-term investments." Isaacson shared that BMCF has approximately $34.5 million in assets and gives away around $2 million each year. The foundation serves Walla Walla, Garfield and Columbia Counties in Washington and northern Umatilla County in Oregon.

BMCF is involved in a wide variety of donor opportu­nities from arts to education to health and wellness. Isaac­son spoke proudly of the new Health Center at Lincoln - a clinic situated next to Lincoln High School that provides free medical and mental health services to Lincoln stu­dents. Students served by the clinic have expressed their gratitude for the program and confirm the need. "We like to connect donors with other donors, and also with the people and organizations they've helped so that you can see that you do make a difference," said Isaacson.

Isaacson said that the BMCF scholarships have ben­efited 229 Waitsburg graduates, to date. The newly estab­lished Waitsburg High Alumni Association Scholarship fund was recently set up through BMCF and currently totals over $35,000 in donations. The first two $1,000 scholarships from this fund will be awarded at this year's graduation ceremony.