Local News

August 30, 2007

Three recent Lower Columbia College nursing grads—Ed Hunt, Bryan Lomax and Don Schaefer—began raising funds in June to fund an endowed nursing scholarship.
It's their way of giving back for the scholarship help they received while in school.
When Mark and Theresa McCrady read about their effort in The Daily News, they responded with a $10,000 challenge match opportunity. Mark’s father, Roy, joined in. The trio will match all contributions to the Nursing Alumni Endowed Scholarship Fund, received through 2007, dollar for dollar, up to $10,000. As of August 22, about $1,300 had been contributed.
Theresa McCrady is a 1983 LCC nursing graduate and Mark has earned two technical degrees from LCC. Roy strongly supports education.
“We’re big believers in LCC,” said Mark McCrady. “You don’t have to go a long ways away to get a good education. LCC provides a lot, right here in town. We believe the healthcare industry needs quality people and hope this little bit we can do will help encourage people to go into this field.”
Hunt, Lomax and Schaefer had scholarships to help them get through nursing school. Lomax first proposed the scholarship as a gift from the Fall 2006 graduating class to future nurses, and Hunt agreed to help. Schaefer (Spring 2007) joined the effort as it broadened.
“We realized how lucky we were and decided to create an additional opportunity for others to receive the same kind of helping hand,” Hunt explained.
The three (and many other LCC students) are parents, and their scholarships were essential to their education. Parenthood also set their focus on future generations.
The original idea was that LCC’s new nurses would use their new earning power to set aside a little every week for the scholarship. However, more alumni and others whose lives have been touched by LCC nurses have stepped up to help.
“Ed and I are working on some brochures we can hand out, and we have high hopes for this,” said Lomax, who is finishing his BSN at WSU Vancouver, hoping to graduate in December.
If 2007 donations reach that $10,000, the McCradys’ match will push the total to $20,000, enough to permanently fund a scholarship. The scholarship fund is managed by the LCC Foundation, P.O. Box 3010 in Longview. More information is available at 360-442-2130 or lowercolumbia.edu/foundation.