Rob Tench and Tracy Lamport [Photo: Denise Ritchie]

Orchid Island residents have taken to heart G.K. Chesterton’s dictum that “education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.” Passing the baton locally, benefactors gathered at the home of Rahul Ghai and Priyanka Singh for the annual Orchid Outreach Cocktail Reception, to thank donors and honor current scholarship recipients.

Orchid Outreach, founded in 2001 by Nancy Bryson and the late Mary Ellen Strawser, is a dedicated group of women whose mission is to help local students pay for their college education. Three endowments have been established to provide scholarships to the children of first responders, Orchid Island employees and their children, and local students attending Indian River State College.

Guests and scholarship recipients chatted poolside as committee members served hors d’oeuvres they made, ensuring 100 percent of donations would go toward the scholarship fund.

“The committee underwrites all expenses of this gathering and all associated costs during the year,” said committee chair Tracy Lamport. “This event is the committee’s opportunity to thank our Orchid Island friends and neighbors who generously support our scholarship program.”

Lamport said that to date, Orchid Outreach has contributed to the education of 76 young scholars.

“You have offered possibilities and support at a time when tuitions are high, aid is limited, and family savings are slim,” she added.

Edwin Massey, IRSC president, spoke with appreciation of the partnership with Orchid Outreach.

“You don’t see the outcome all the time. Maybe you don’t even meet the students, but you are changing their lives,” said Massey. “You can go to bed every night with good thoughts, because even if you didn’t meet them, they are going to be better people. They are going to be stronger people. They are going to be educated people. They are going to be contributing people to our community and they’re going to be successful. They’re going to have what we call the American Dream.”

Donna Thrailkill, committee liaison, introduced two scholarship recipients and shared letters from two others unable to attend due to the rigorous academic demands of college.

Cindy Peralta Tadeo, a single, working mother whose father works at Orchid, spoke from the heart as she shared her dream of attending law school at Florida State University, so that she can make a better life for herself and her 1-year-old daughter.

“I was very, very grateful to also receive this award,” said Orchid employee Anna Downing, who is working toward a degree in Human Services, and hopes to become a U.S. Air Force or Army pilot. “Now I am able to go to school completely free.”

“These are the type of individuals that you are helping through your generosity,” said Thrailkill. “Through the years, we were able to bestow and grant more scholarships than we have ever done before for matriculation at Indian River State College.”

This year’s IRSC Scholars are: Kiersten Carroll, Anna Downing, Adrian Figueroa, Nicole Martz, Andrea Morency, Erin Morency, Cindy Tadeo and Mary Scibelli. Haley Snowhill is the recipient of the Orchid Island Scholarship, administered through the Scholarship Foundation of Indian River.