The Benefit Breakfast hosted by the EvCC Foundation raised $105,000 to support student scholarships, college programs and other financial necessities. The event was held on April 18 in the Walt Price Student Fitness Center. The speakers featured were EvCC Interim President Dr. Darrell L. Cain, scholarship recipients Elsa Sanchez and Yuliya Fedorchenko, and Foundation Executive Director John Olson.

The Benefit Breakfast is an annual event that is held to raise donations to support students in need of financial assistance. The event had not been in person for three years until now. More than 230 students attended the event resulting in one of the biggest turn outs.

“We had a goal of $100,000 for the event, and raised a bit more than that, so we did meet our goal.” Said John Olson, the Executive Director of the EvCC Foundation.

Donations at the event can also support student equipment needs to ensure that every student has the needed necessities. They can also support emergency aid for students. Emergency aid is important for the students who have unexpected or unavoidable expenses, such as a house fire or car accident. Donations also go towards general support, this includes necessary costs like money, housing, food and clothing.

Some premier sponsors that made the event possible are Boeing, Gesa Credit Union, Mortenson, and Optum. Other sponsors included All City Fence, Mithun, Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians, Tulalip Resort Casino, Washington Trust Bank, Washington State University Everett, and the Washington State Employees Credit Union.

The EvCC Foundation also reaches out to various sponsors throughout the year to support student scholarships as well. Each year EvCC has about 5 million dollars to help support students with any financial needs. As stated by Olson, a lot of scholarship money comes from the faculty at EvCC and community members. “I think it’s important to remember that a lot of faculty and community members like to help support students.” Said Olson.

A common question when it comes to events like the Benefit Breakfast is how much of what I am donating actually goes to student scholarships and college programs? The answer is that donations received are unrestricted and are managed by the foundation. “Most of the funding goes to general support; I would estimate that 15% of the amount goes to scholarships and program support.” Said Olson.

Student scholarships is a resource that is completely open for any student. It doesn’t matter who you are, anyone can apply. Reminders are also sent to every EvCC student’s email to inform of any upcoming deadlines for scholarships. If you want to learn more information about the scholarships EvCC has to offer you can go to the EvCC website and search for scholarships. The list provides the name of the foundation or institute issuing the scholarship money, the deadline of the scholarship and any other details such as if it costs money to apply or not.

It is never too late to apply for scholarships. There are websites out there like CollegeRaptor.com and EducationConnection.com that can filter through scholarships to find the right scholarship for you.

Without this foundation lots of students would be without financial assistance, general support, college programs and other necessities/expenses. Making events like the Benefit Breakfast vital for the college community. You can also show support by visiting the EvCC Foundation website and making a donation that way.

If you can’t find the right scholarship for you on the EvCC homepage then there are lots of organizations you can reach out to. Such as the Coca Cola Scholars Foundation which spends about 3 million dollars on student scholarships. The requirements are that your GPA must be 3.0 or higher to be eligible for the scholarship.

It’s best to apply for scholarships as quickly as possible, preferably before the end of the quarter. Scholarship money tends to go quickly with the foundations that have loser requirements and that are free to apply for. You can sign up to receive notifications for any available scholarships by joining websites like Fastweb Scholarships. By joining these websites you can set the requirements of scholarships to fit your qualifications, so that you are notified when a scholarship has the necessary requirements.