|
|
|
| CWU Scholarships: Creating Opportunities for the next generation |
For children in foster care, the future often holds no promise. For the more than half-million foster children, the daily necessities-such as a stable home, school, and family-are the highest priorities. These children, some taken from homes of abuse or neglect, have enough on their plates just navigating the daily uncertainty that makes up so much of their lives.
Education often suffers. Research over the past three decades has shown that, compared to the general school population, foster children in the United States have poorer attendance rates, are less likely to perform at grade level, are more likely to exhibit behavior and discipline problems, are more likely to be assigned to special education classes, and are less likely to attend college. Nationally, less than three percent of former foster youth earn bachelor's degrees.
The painful realities of foster care came vividly alive for Ed Hansen ('77, Business Administration) and his wife Cristine, while viewing a television documentary about the needs of forgotten youths. "After learning about these great kids with great potential, I felt a calling in my heart to help a child," said Cristine. "When you see these kids suffer through a series of homes, you realize they might not see a light at the end of a tunnel. This would be a way to encourage them to hang in there." The Hansens always valued higher education and the opportunities it offered. So, they decided that helping foster children get an education may be the greatest gift they could offer. They approached Central's Office of Development to help them create an appropriate gift to help the children who so touched their hearts.
Working closely with university development staff, Cristine defined the criteria for scholarship applicants that met her ideals for offering help. "It is always our goal to match the wishes of our donors with the needs of the university," said Gray. "We worked with the university's scholarship office to add a check box for foster children on the scholarship application form." In this manner, applicants who were from foster homes could identify themselves as such, without an invasion of privacy. Together the two developed the first annual, full-ride scholarship from a single CWU donor. The award covers tuition, books, and room and board for each recipient. The first beneficiary of the Ed and Cristine Hansen Scholarship was CWU freshman Christina Koons. Orphaned at the age of five after her mother succumbed to AIDS, Koons and her brother were put into foster care, where they were shuffled through "at least three" different families in a matter of months. "We went through a lot," she remembers soberly. Six months later, she and her brother moved to Ephrata to live with an aunt (her mother's sister) and uncle, where they finally found a stable and loving home.
"It was a struggle in school to get caught up," Koons says. "It took eight years for me to get up to my grade level. I was lucky to have people both pulling for me and pushing me."
Koons began attending Central in the fall of 2007, where she studied sociology and psychology. Her long-term goal is to be a counselor for foster children. She believes that her experiences as a foster child will help her to connect to this underserved and often forgotten population. "I feel I will be able to understand them and their needs," she wrote to the Hansens in a thank you note after receiving the scholarship. "I want to help these kids more than anything."
You also may want to make it easy and convenient to have a bequest included in your will. The language below shows how a bequest can very easily be included in your will.
You might find it helpful to select the "print" button on the top of your screen and print this page. You may feel free to give this page to your attorney. If he or she has any questions, please have him or her contact Catherine Scarlett at phone number 509-963-3083 or email us at scarletc@cwu.edu.
Example bequest language - Please feel free to change the numbers or percentages as you desire.
1. Bequest of cash
"I bequeath the sum of $10,000 to Central Washington University Foundation of Ellensburg, WA."
2. Bequest of a percent of the estate
"I devise and bequeath 20% of the remainder and residue of property owned at my death, whether real or personal, and wherever located to Central Washington University Foundation, Ellensburg, WA."
3. Contingent Bequest
"If my brother John Doe survives me, I devise and bequeath 20% of the remainder and residue of property owned at my death, whether real or personal, and wherever located to John Doe. If John Doe does not survive me, then I devise and bequeath 20% of my residuary estate, whether real or personal property and wherever located to Central Washington University Foundation, Ellensburg, WA."
You may print a Bequest tri-fold brochure. Voice of a Legacy or Will Your Will be Known.
|
© Copyright 1999-2010 Crescendo Interactive, Inc.
|
|
