Testimonials

What our participants are saying.

Dear Methow Valley Education Foundation Board Members,

This letter of appreciation is long overdue. First, I want to express my appreciation for all you do for our community and residents. Individuals seeking education are often discouraged by the high cost. Your foundation has stepped in to help those with a passion and desire to learn make their dreams come true.

I am especially grateful for your support for paramedic training for Jeff Kingsbury, one of our employees. Jeff is committed and dedicated to elevating his prehospital emergency care knowledge, skills, and certification so that he can better help others. As you have learned, the training is lengthy and costly. Your support allows us the funds to support his wages throughout the training. He is currently 6 months into an 18-month program and is doing very well.

I am grateful that Bob Maves recognized the need to help fund education and his wife Terry, and the original board members started and have continued to grow the foundation into what it is today. The souls you have touched is truly inspiring.

With Gratitude,
Cindy Button
Aero Methow Rescue Service Director of Services

My first involvement with Aero Methow was as a patient in the summer of 2002. After sustaining life-threatening injuries from a climbing accident in the North Cascades, I was airlifted from Cutthroat Peak in an Army helicopter with the help of personnel from Aero Methow Rescue Service, and flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Two years later – and fully recovered – I took my first EMT class through AMRS, and began responding as a volunteer. In 2008 I was selected to be enrolled in the Paramedic Training Program at Tacoma Community College.

Scholarship funds from MVEF allowed me to afford this training as it was a full-time academic commitment, with very few opportunities to work on the side to support my cost of living while attending school. I returned to the Methow Valley in 2009 following completion of my training and have been employed full-time as a paramedic with Aero Methow ever since. It is an honor to serve the community, friends and others in their times of need. Thomas Smith & Aero Methow

“With this scholarship, it has helped to ease some of the financial burden and made it possible for me to attend a college that has a lot to offer in the area that I’ve been passionate about my entire life. I can’t thank the Methow Valley Education Foundation enough for their generous support!” McKenna Barnes

“I’m so grateful to have received a scholarship through the Methow Valley Education Foundation that helped make it possible for me to attend law school and become an attorney. My career has evolved from practicing civil law to working for the National Forest Foundation, where I’ve been able to support forests throughout the country, including the Methow Valley Ranger District on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. The MVEF scholarship I received helped set the course of my life and continues to motivate me to give back to the community that raised me. I’m thankful to now be in the position to donate to the MVEF. I will forever appreciate the opportunities that the generosity of the MVEF and its donors afforded me and will never stop trying to pay it forward.” Dayle Wallien

“The support from the MVEF allowed me to complete Associate of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees. I have since gone on to earn a Masters in Teaching, I taught math at Liberty Bell Jr./Sr. High School for 20 years and now I currently teach 6th grade. I am very appreciative of the Foundation’s help with my continuing education.” Carrie Fink

“I cannot imagine a more supportive community than the Methow Valley from which to venture off to a faraway college experience. As a high school student at Liberty Bell in the late 90s and early 2000s, our curriculum did not include AP or other standard advanced-level offerings, per se, but what we did have were inspiring educators like Lou Kallery, Sean McCabe and Jim Erickson who pushed students to reach beyond not only their own perceived limits, but also those considered possible in such a small, remote school district. Through their encouragement, and now that of teachers who have come after them, LBHS students confidently toss their hats into the college admissions rings at the highest level of academia.

Receiving a scholarship from the Methow Valley Education Foundation helped ensure that the debt burden imposed on both myself and my parents for my ambitious college goals would be more manageable, in turn giving me the confidence to embark on that journey. MVEF’s support mirrored, then as now, the incredible personal engagement which our Methow community has with its young people, and we all are immensely fortunate to have so many organizations and individuals who care deeply about expanding educational opportunities for our students, despite their families’ often modest means. The deep bond and sense of connection to this place forged in me as a high school student is what brought me back here to raise my own family and engage locally as a business owner and community member. Like so many of my classmates, this Valley continues to sustain in us a sense of belonging and togetherness, and I’m so grateful for MVEF and others whose support paved pathways for us all to follow.” Sam Naney

“We love to be a part of MVEF so that we can continue to be a part of helping young people in our community to thrive and grow as they continue their journey of education.

We want to help create opportunities for students in the valley who need support to achieve their dreams. It is important for us to join others in our community and MVEF to keep all of our graduating students in mind and do what we can to support their future.” Bo Thrasher and Paul Butler

“I’m grateful to the Methow Valley Education Foundation for its support. College is expensive and every bit helps. The generous four-year MVEF scholarship that I received, along with other scholarships, help from family, and working up to three jobs at a time during school helped me finish my degree and stay out of debt.” Brita Ness

“The MVEF has helped me tremendously by lifting a financial burden off not only myself but my parents as I continue to strive towards completing my college degree.  The MVEF not only helps tremendously financially but it also keeps me motivated and excited to pursue my goals. Knowing that the community I grew up in is able to and willing to aid me and others so much in our collegiate endeavors motivates me to keep pushing in school and make the absolute most I can with this opportunity.”  Cesar Dominguez

“The past several years the Methow Valley Education Foundation scholarship has helped alleviate the financial pressures of attending college.  I go through school with a variety of goals, including to work in human rights nonprofits, create art through film, and help people as a whole.  The MVEF scholarship directly supports me pursuing those goals through my education.” Kathleen Chavey-Reynaud

“I have almost completed my Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and am currently applying for nursing programs at both University of Hawaii at Hilo and University of Washington at Seattle for Fall 2017.  Your support has helped me climb higher, do more and has taken me from the forests of the Methow to so many incredible communities! From the bottom of my heart: Thank you.” Morgan Tate

“The MVEF scholarship has helped ease my work load at my third job and allowed me more time for my studies and career pursuits!” Alex Bosco

“The scholarship funds allowed me to go to school over the summer.  I needed two more classes in order to apply for the major, but they were constantly full.  Attending summer quarter this year enabled me to take these classes, which led to my acceptance into the major.  It is taking me longer than originally anticipated to complete this degree, and your scholarship encourages met to keep going.” Joe Hausman

“Your generous gift is helping me obtain an education that will open doors to the future opportunities that I may not have otherwise been able to experience.”  Garrett Dornfeld

“This scholarship is helping me pursue my goals of achieving higher education and having the ability to make college possible without completely burying myself or family in debt.”  Aden Jones

“Through this scholarship I have learned so much not only about the classes I am taking but also about myself and what path I want to take in the future.  I will use everything I learn here at Evergreen State College whether it’s in a class or out of class, in order to give back to the community that has given so much to me.”  Koharu Yonebayashi

“Thanks to MVEF, I’m able to make real contributions to cutting edge research and actively pursue new knowledge everyday.”  Nickolas Saunders

“The Methow Valley Education Foundation scholarship has helped me pursue my goals by allowing me to take some of the financial weight off my shoulders and let me focus more directly on school and lower my stress level.  Without this scholarship I can assure you I would have a lot more on my mind financially than I do right now and I am so thankful that this scholarship lets me be the best student I can be with less stress and more time to put into school.  Thank you once again!” Marty Larsen

“With this scholarship, it has helped to ease some of the financial burden and made it possible for me to attend a college that has a lot to offer in the area that I’ve been passionate about my entire life.  I can’t thank the Methow Valley Education Foundation enough for their generous support!” McKenna Barnes