The St. Joseph Eastside Rotary Club established a scholarship fund for Missouri Western students about 40 years ago, and the MWSU Foundation will now assist the service organization with choosing recipients and disbursing the funds.
Jack Steury, scholarship chair for the group, said it was getting more and more difficult each year to publicize the scholarship and get applicants, so the club recently voted to secure an endowment worth more than $50,000 with the MWSU Foundation, which will disburse the scholarships through the system already in place for Missouri Western scholarships.
Additionally, by having an endowment fund with the MWSU Foundation, individuals can now donate to the fund and gain a tax benefit, and the club can add to it as well. Steury also noted that the Foundation’s investment strategy will generate interest for the fund, and an endowment will ensure that the fund will always be able to provide scholarships.
The group provides scholarships to nontraditional students at Missouri Western with a financial need, and the scholarships are renewable if the applicant re-applies each year. The recipients have been required to attend at least one Eastside Rotary meeting per year to report on their academic progress, and that will continue, as well.
“Giving is in our blood,” said Shelly Hulet, president of the St. Joseph Eastside Rotary. “It’s the core of what we believe in.”