Gresham Scholarship Fund raises $30K

Many community members came together March 25 to support graduating Gresham seniors as they get ready to take the next steps in life.

For the first time in three years, the Gresham Scholarship Fund held its annual banquet, where community members were invited to have dinner, partake in silent auctions and enjoy a night of supporting the community. Though the money is still being counted, GSF President Bob Klopke said about $30,000 was raised for those students who are graduating this spring.

“That would be a record for us,” said Klopke.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the GSF was unable to host its annual meeting. As it was back this year, Klopke said 151 people attended the event.

“That was a top number for us — I think our very first year, around 20 years ago, it was up around the 150 mark,” said Klopke. “(The banquet) is to raise funds for our endowment fund. We have people that commonly contribute year in and year out, but not everybody does, so this is a way for us to generate some additional income for that endowment fund.”

During the 2023 banquet, the $30,000 that was raised came from ticket sales, sponsorships, raffle tickets, silent auctions, games and pie auctions.

“We play a game called heads and tails, where we have visitors stand up with a $10 bill and we flip a coin,” said Klopke. “If a person has chose to hold onto their head (or bottom) and it comes up heads (or tails), they are a winner and continue to stand. They go through that over and over again and eventually you get down to one winner and they win whatever the prize may be.”

The big money generator this year was the pie auction, according to Klopke. Each year, about six pies are auctioned off and with the thought the money for these pies are going to the scholarship fund, prices climb as high as $1,000. Nine pies were auctioned off $1,000 a piece, this year.

“That is a high — I think typically, it has been five or six people that said that they would kick in $1,000,” said Klopke. “There were lots of smiles (when nine people donated $1,000). It is gratifying to see the community back us and they have. The community has been wonderful.”

In the first year of the existence, Klopke said that the Gresham Scholarship Fund had given student scholarships of about $400. In 2023, that number has increased to $4,000 per student.

“That is ten times as much and it literally takes kids 10-15 minutes to fill out that application,” said Klopke. “If somebody is not applying, we do everything we can to encourage them to. We just retooled the application process slightly.”

In order to qualify for the scholarship, students will get the option of taking $1,000 to get started and have to maintain good grades as a full time student in college. If that is achieved, they will receive the remainder of the money after the first semester of college.

“They can defer it too,” said Klopke. “If they are thinking that they have to work a while before they start school they can defer it for up to five years.”

In 2023, 12 kids will receive scholarships.

“That is out of a class that is rather small, so almost everybody in the (graduating) class will be awarded one,” said Klopke. “These last few years, we have really put an emphasis on them going out and getting these scholarships. Even if it took you a half-hour — how many of us make $4,000 an hour?”

Klopke said that he and other members of the Gresham Scholarship Fund put an emphasis on urging students to apply for these scholarships, because he wants the rest of these students lives to start out on a high note.

“I want them to have a good life,” said Klopke. “I want them to be competitive, I want them to get those good jobs and I want them to have fine life for themselves. That is what it is all about.”

lreimer@newmedia-wi.com