Founded in 1963 as an independent 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, non-profit organization, the BMCC Foundation is dedicated to serving the mission of Blue Mountain Community College by providing financial support to students through scholarships, emergency assistance, and program support. We are grateful for the enduring generosity of our community, donors, alumni, faculty, and staff. Each year the foundation provides over $300,000 in funding support for students to ensure access to education.
OUR MISSION
To foster relationships that provide opportunities to support students, programs, and capital projects at Blue Mountain Community College.
A scholarship is a monetary award of money that is provided for a student to support their pursuit of a college degree. The main difference between these funds and a loan is that scholarship money does not need to be repaid.
A standard (non-endowed) scholarship is a gift that can be made on a one-time or an annual basis. A $2,000 minimum donation to the BMCC Foundation is required to set up a standard scholarship. Awards are made available to the scholarship recipient during the academic year. Continued funding of scholarship accounts allows donors to provide scholarships at their desired award level each year.
Once the scholarship account reaches a zero balance, it will be considered inactive and not awarded.
An endowed scholarship is an enduring gift that earns interest each year and allows the donor to make a personal legacy gift or honor a loved one. A minimum of $25,000 is required to initiate a BMCC endowed scholarship. The Foundation will invest this amount and then utilize the interest of the initial investment (called the corpus), plus any subsequent donations to provide scholarships to qualified students. An endowment scholarship is irrevocable and unrestricted.
A five percent administrative fee is retained from BMCC scholarship donations. For example, for a $2,000 standard scholarship donation, a $100 administrative fee would be retained; a $1,250 administrative fee would be retained from a $25,000 endowed scholarship donation. All scholarship donations are tax deductible.
When establishing scholarship criteria, many factors should be considered, including financial need, achievements, geographic area, and degree focus. The criteria selected should support the donor’s philanthropic goals and purpose. The scholarship must be free of restrictions or discriminatory provisions by law.
Students apply online during an open scholarship cycle. Applications then undergo an unbiased review process. The BMCC Foundation Scholarship Review Committee is crucial in carefully reading and scoring deserving scholarship recipients. These recipients are students who maintain good standing and fulfill the criteria set by the donor.
Donors enjoy reading thank-you notes from their scholarship recipients. Donors and their recipients also have the opportunity to meet at the BMCC Foundation Scholarship Celebration held annually in the spring.
Disbursements to students are made during the annual Foundation scholarship cycles. Scholarship awards are equally divided over the College’s three terms: fall, winter, and spring. Scholarship accounts should be adequately funded to be eligible for disbursement.
“Truly wonderful people” is an understatement for describing Florence and Harold (Red) Wishart, the very gracious and kind couple, who brought the Wishart Scholarship into being.
Florence was born Florence Mary Ross in 1910. She and her two younger sisters were born and raised on a farm at Thorn Hollow on the upper Umatilla River. Their mother, Lydia McBean Ross, was descended from the Walla Walla tribe of the CTUIR and subsequently both Florence and Mildred were also granted allotments on the reservation. Their father Ernest Ross believed in an education for his girls and when Florence was 8, he installed the three young girls, along with a milk cow, in a house in Weston where they lived on their own with Florence in charge during the school year. In charge at the age of 8, can you imagine?! All three girls ultimately graduated from Weston High School, Florence in 1928.
After high school, Florence attended Behnke Business College in Portland and specialized in typewriting. Her proficiency certificate states that she could type “33 words per minute for 15 minutes with 5 errors” on the “Royal Typewriter”. She later met and married my Harold (Red) Wishart, and they settled in Thorn Hollow on the family homestead land. Harold worked on a number of ranches as a hired hand. He told stories of handling twenty-mule teams and sewing wheat sacks closed for hours at a time. Ultimately, he went to work for the Pendleton water department and, as was usual at the time, Florence was a homemaker. She also served as a precinct captain for the Gibbon voting site. They lost their only child at birth and were told not to try again. It was later discovered that Harold religiously gave Flo a beautiful Mother’s Day card every year thereafter—often accompanied by a handwritten poem.
After a workplace accident and subsequent heart problems, they sold the property in Thorn Hollow and moved into Pendleton. This began a long journey of health issues for them both, which resulted in their generous support of the BMCC nursing and criminal justice programs. It is important to note that while they were very special people, they were of very modest means and lived a simple life. Florence was a marvelous cook and baker. Her German Chocolate cakes and cookies were legendary. Harold was an award winning crocheter (see attached) and a talented card player with a near photographic memory. As a couple, they played pinochle and bridge for hours, and there was always a jigsaw puzzle in progress at their home. Their garden, particularly their homegrown tomatoes, was amazing.
They both had the most distinctive laughs. Florence’s was something of a short cackle and Uncle Harold’s was a great sustained wheeze. In 1977 the movie Star Wars was released, Florence mentioned that she had not seen a movie in 30 years. You can imagine how surprising all those special effects were to her after decades of no movies. After the show, she looked at her niece and, literally cackling, said, “Hah!!! Well… that was a wild thing!”
There are so many stories… they were truly wonderful people. Words can’t express how proud our family is of their legacy and its support of the BMCC scholarship program.
Information Provided by: Teresa Chapman Ducharme (Florence and Harold’s great niece)
A placeholder for newly added foundation scholarships.
Contact Us
Reach out – we have the answers!
BMCC Foundation
2411 NW Carden Ave.
Pendleton, OR 97801
BMCCFoundation@bluecc.edu
(541) 278-5762
