About this time every year, the Kirkland Kiwanis Foundation awards scholarships to graduating seniors on the Eastside. The scholarships range from $1,000-2,500 and recipients include students in Kirkland and parts of Redmond and Woodinville. Over the years, Kiwanis has provided more than $100,000 in scholarships to Eastside high school students.
The Kirkland Kiwanis Foundation Scholarships are named after and honor Kiwanis members who have exemplified the Kiwanis tradition of service to the community. During past years, five scholarships have been given in honor of Kiwanis Club of Kirkland/Kirkland Kiwanis Foundation members. Those members are Charles Johnson, Glen Clarence, Wilf Sharpe, George Harris and Bill Petter.
This year, a sixth scholarship was named to honor a current club member and one who truly exemplifies all that Kiwanis stands for – Dick Shinstrom.
Shinstrom has been a member of the Kiwanis Club of Kirkland and the Kirkland Kiwanis Foundation since 1949. In his 67 years of service, he is the only member in both clubs who has maintained perfect attendance at meetings for all those years.
Shinstrom has achieved a great deal over the years, including Club and Foundation President in 1958 and Kiwanian of the Year 1975 and 2006. A special honor, the “Father of the Club Award” was given to Shinstrom in 2008, which marked his 60th year in Kiwanis. He has also served as Vice President and Treasurer of both clubs, headed numerous committees as well as being awarded the 50 Year Legion of Honor and the 65 Year Legion of Honor Awards by Kiwanis International. Shinstrom’s lifetime commitment to his Kiwanis club and foundation has made him an anchor of both clubs and he truly defines what Kiwanis is all about.
It was a privilege and an honor for the Foundation Board of Directors to add Shinstrom to the ranks of these other distinguished members for whom scholarships are administered each year. He is a mainstay at meetings and events and always shows up with a big smile and a kind word for everyone. He is truly a Kiwanis icon and if you ask any Kiwanis member, they will say, “everyone loves Dick.” John White, Scholarship Committee Chairman says about Shinstrom, “Dick has always been generous with his time and talent over the years, both to the Kiwanis family and the broader Kirkland community. I remember how helpful he was to me when I first became involved in the early 1990s, and we all hope to live up to that model.”
For more information about the scholarship program or to obtain a scholarship application, contact John White at white@livengoodlaw.com. Additional information about scholarships and the Kiwanis Club of Kirkland or the Kirkland Kiwanis Foundation may be obtained www.kirkland.kiwanis.org. If you would like to meet Shinstrom in person and truly be inspired, come visit the Kiwanis Club of Kirkland on Wednesdays at noon at Hector’s. You will be glad you did.
Bonni Sundberg is the marketing chairman for the Kiwanis Club of Kirkland.
