Hopping into action for food bank

A coalition of high school seniors is working to build a cache for the Sky Valley Food Bank during the slower season, with friendly competition as one motivating factor.

The roughly 17 Monroe, Sultan and Snohomish students are in the running for about half as many Monroe Rotary Club scholarships; the Student of the Month program sends recipients off to college with $1,000. Before selections are made, finalists collaborate on the annual food drive.

Monroe High School senior Colbi Bertrand and her peers have met weekly to organize the project, with minimal assistance from Monroe Rotary members.

It is the first year the program is conducting outreach at Monroe’s Community Easter Egg Hunt, a tradition that goes back more than two decades, at the urging and motivation of the students. A booth will be set up where families can drop off canned foods or funds for the food bank. The event goes from 9-11 a.m. Saturday, March 31, at Lake Tye Park.

Many students are balancing planning duties with an already hefty workload. Bertrand is a Bearcats cheerleader. Monroe High School senior Arleth Garcia works a part-time job. They also have to prioritize schoolwork, and both are avid volunteers.

Bertrand volunteers at the City of Monroe’s National Night Out booth — her father works in the Public Works Department — and the Relay For Life team she’s been a member of since fifth grade raised $15,000 last year. She has also participated in youth cheerleading camps.

Bertrand said she gravitates toward projects and pastimes where she collaborates with many to accomplish a goal. She has lived in Monroe her whole life, and said feeds off the energy that often coincides with service.

“A lot of the people here are really enthusiastic about getting involved and helping out their community,” she said. “It seems like just a big family when we all come together.”

Garcia said one of her favorite experiences serving happened this year. She helped organize her St. Mary of the Valley church’s Cena Show, raising funds for an orphanage in Mexico. That night families and friends come together to eat and be entertained, she said.

The annual scholarships are one of the club’s biggest programs, according to Rotary president Katy Woods. Eight Monroe seniors, three Sultan seniors and three Snohomish seniors will receive the funding.

“This is such a great project to keep us in touch with the great things our youth are doing and what a difference they will make in our world,” according to Woods.

The money can be crucial for the students. Garcia comes from a low-income family. She said her brother is attending Lake Washington Technical College, and her family would struggle to give them both a full education.

The scholarships she receives will mean the difference between going to school full-time or part-time. She hopes to graduate with a nursing degree, and eventually grow her career at a children’s hospital.

Bertrand said taking home a scholarship would help her pursue an engineering degree. She said she doesn’t want money to hold her back from her desired career, and is aiming to only need to work a part-time job on top of going to school.

Longtime Student of the Month coordinator Sally Petty said over the years she has heard many different reasons students apply for the scholarships. Some are interested in the experience of being mentored by community leaders — the finalists attend three of the club’s weekly meetings, interview with members and learn to carry out a large-scale project.

The scholarship program began about a decade and a half ago, Petty said. It’s name comes from the idea that about a dozen students would be selected to participate in the interviewing process — one for each month of the year. The food drive was first introduced in 2010, she said.

Petty said the program came about so that the club could identify the well rounded and balanced students who are most likely to make giving back to their community a priority in their adult life, potentially even as future Rotarians.

Petty said sometimes youth are better at interviews, or have strong leadership skills and a passion for service. Seeing how they do during the food drive can show whether they can manage both, she said.

“They are amazing kids, and year after year they just blow our socks off,” Petty said.

She said the Sultan students are simultaneously working to secure food for their own community. The final three Snohomish students will be chosen by their school district, she said.

Monroe students have raised nearly 35,000 pounds of food since 2010, and nearly $14,500. Petty said she has had cousins and siblings of former applicants try out for the scholarships; it is a tradition that is having a generational impact on the community.