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First annual Buss Rondeau Award for innovative education is presented. Also, the Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation awards over $375,000 to 31 nonprofit organizations in S.W. Oregon.
Canyonville ceremony: First-time award will be given out Tuesday in honor of late board member who promoted education
By Stacy D. StumboA first-time award for youth education along with nearly $400,000 in grants will be awarded Tuesday by the Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation.
The first biannual Buss Rondeau Award for innovative education will be presented to one of the grant recipients at a 10 a.m. ceremony in the Seven Feathers Hotel and Casino Resort Conference Center in Canyonville.
The award is named for Wallace “Buster” Rondeau, a Sutherlin resident, founding member of the foundation and longtime member of the tribal board.
Rondeau died last spring. His wife, Polly Rondeau, will present the award.
A project called “Education for Youth” was one of his highest priorities," said Martha Young, foundation executive director. "Support of youth education was very dear to Buster's heart."
Rondeau believed education was pivotal in attaining success and tried to promote it through his work with the foundation.
"He is dearly, dearly missed," Young said.
Grants totaling $378,355 will be given to 31 recipients representing nonprofit organizations serving Douglas, Josephine, Jackson, Klamath, Deschutes, Land and Coos counties.
The foundation was formed in 1997, and the event will mark its sixth cycle of grant distribution. In the last three years 148 grants totaling $1,551,121 have been awarded to different organizations. The group’s mission is to strengthen youth and family by providing support for programs and education.
The Cow Creeks, from one generation to the next, have always had a tradition of quiet sharing,", said Foundation and Tribal Chairwoman Sue Shaffer. "Whether someone needed a meal, a place to stay the night, medical attention or some solace, it was our life-way to help one another meet those needs. Though the Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation is young, sharing is not new to the Cow Creek. Our foundation is simply a continuance of our life-way of giving.
The ceremony is hosted by the foundation’s board of directors. Shaffer will officiate.
A coffee social with recipients of the grant will follow.
Nonprofit organizations wishing to apply for a Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation grant can call (541) 957-8945 or write to 2371 N.E. Stephens St., Suite 100, Roseburg, OR 97470.
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