The mission of Naches Valley Dollars for Scholars is to expand access to educational opportunities for Naches Valley Public School students through scholarships and academic support.

 

Chapter Officers & Board Members for 2026:

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Our Current Brochure:  Click Here for more information

History of Scholarship awards given:

 

 

YEAR	NUMBER OF RECIEPIENTS	DOLLARS AWARDED	RENEWABLE AWARDS
2001	19	$16,600
2002	25	$29, 225
2003	38	$42,450
2004	36	$48,921
2005	39	$52,150
2006	39	$58,000
2007	43	$78,700
2008	44	$87,650
2009	40	$72,100
2010	49	$61,558
2011	42	$74,000
2012	46	$82,040
2013	44	$85,495
2014	49	$87,040
2015	47	$100,000
2016	51	$100,000
2017	40	$100,000
2018	46	$100,000
2019	40	$100,000
2020	46	$100,000
2021	33	$100,000
2022	50	$140,000	$10,000
2023	34	$130,000	$20,000
2024	29	$120,000	$22,500
2025	30	$110,000
2026	42	$150,000
HISTORICAL TOTALS	1009	$2,065,929

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Chapter History:

The Early Days of Naches Dollars for Scholars

In the fall of 2000, a few good hearted and ambitious members of the Greater Naches Valley Community got together and formed Naches Dollars for Scholars. There is a letter in the committee's archives stating that Naches Dollars for Scholars became an affiliate of Scholarship America on November 13, 2000.  

The first minutes found were dated Dec. 6, 2000.  They were just getting organized and seeking other people who would be willing to serve.

Present at this meeting were Buzz Rowe, Nick Eddy, Andy Simkus, Dave Mulalley, Ted Cowan, Paul Kauzlarich, Phyllis Steele, Micki Robison, Dee Huck, Roberta Gabbard, Rich Rouleau, and Charles Westfall.

The next meeting was five days later on Dec. 11, 2000.

Officers were elected and they were:

President:           Paul Kauzlarich

Vice President:   Chuck Westfall

Secretary:           Frank Wesselius

Treasurer:            Flo Lawyer

Awards to 19 of 107 seniors were given at graduation in June of 2001.  There were 27 different awards that were funded by contributions from 8 donors. The awards totaled $16,600.

Through the years the efforts of our group has grown and we now are able to provide a lot more financial help to our seniors.  Our name changed in 2013 to Naches Valley Dollars for Scholars to better represent our school district and our community.

In 2013, 44 of the 105 graduating seniors received scholarship through Naches Valley Dollars for Scholars.  There were 96 scholarships totaling $85,495 from a total of 29 donors. 

In both years, 2015 and 2016 we gave out over $100,000 in the form of scholarships to graduates of Naches Valley High School.  We also surpassed the One Million Dollar mark in total scholarships given out since our beginning.

What a huge boost the community has been towards helping our high school seniors further their post-secondary education.  We are very proud of the impact that Naches Valley Dollars for Scholars has made to students in our school district.

Naches Valley Dollars for Scholars holds two major fundraisers each year.  In March we have a Crab Feed that sells out well before the event.  Naches Valley Dollars for Scholars members, high school students and community members all pitch in to make our Crab Feed one of the best around.  In recent years we have gotten Crab Feed sponsors.  With their financial help we have most of our costs covered so our profits are now much more than in previous years. 

Our second fundraiser, a Golf Tournament, is held in May at a local golf course.  Besides being a golf tournament, we have a raffle, a steak dinner and an auction.   We get very nice donated raffle items and sell many hundreds of dollars of raffle tickets.  The auction items are often golf trip packages, use of cabins or condos, dinners for a group, etc.  With a lot of hard work we make this a very profitable venture.  We often net almost $20,000.