The expansive inner courtyard of Bob and Gerri Ripp’s gorgeous Orchid Island home presented a lovely setting for the annual Orchid Outreach Scholarship Cocktail Reception.
Orchid Outreach, which was founded in 2002, provides scholarships to Orchid Island Golf and Beach Club employees and their families, first responders and their families, and other local students to assist them in pursuing their educational goals.
Contributors, scholarship recipients and their guests, and representatives of the foundations through which funds are administered, chatted with one another while enjoying the copious amounts of delectable hors d’oeuvres and finger food prepared and passed around by committee members.
So that 100 percent of contributions can go toward scholarships, Orchid Outreach underwrites the cost of their events.
“On behalf of the members of Orchid Outreach, thank you for your commitment to our scholarship program,” said Maureen Baus, who chaired a committee of some 40 ladies.
“Since its inception 23 years ago, Orchid Outreach has given the gift of an education to students by awarding almost $700,000 in 178 scholarships. And, thanks to your continued generosity, we are able to maintain a combined corpus at the Scholarship Foundation of Indian River County and the Indian River State College Foundation of close to $1.5 million,” said Baus.
“That corpus, along with our ongoing donations, ensures that we will be able to continue to help many more qualified students achieve their dreams in years to come,” she added.
This year, scholarships were awarded to 22 students, 20 of whom are attending Indian River State College.
IRSC students can apply for scholarships over multiple years and multiple degrees. The scholarships cover the tuition, books and other related expenses for full-time and part-time students pursuing associate and bachelor’s degrees or trade certificates.
“We are fortunate to have 11 of those scholars here with us this evening. I’m sure you will recognize several of them who are second- or third-year Orchid Scholars. We also have four representatives of IRSC with us, Annabel Robertson, Terri Graham, Brianne Hutchinson and Sherri Moons,” said Baus.
The IRSC scholarship recipients were: Melissa Quickel, Jurie Fontanilla, Joanna Fontanilla, Tess Paterson, Krystal Escalante-Nelson, Anthony Dekker, Cari Dekker, Parker Smith, Donavyn Holiday, Skyler Almand, Casey Dean, Jenna Simmons, Laysha Magana, Adrianna Larkey, Hailey Holland, Emma Grunzweig, Matthew Macdonald, Dorian Trammell, Rossie Jenkins and Ellen Kalogris.
Additionally, two scholarships were granted this year through the Scholarship Foundation of Indian River County. These are partial scholarships for full-time students attending any college or university in the country.
“Caleigh Presley is attending Florida State University in Tallahassee with a major in Fine Arts and Jasmine Delgado is studying mechanical engineering at the University of Central Florida in Orlando,” said Baus. She noted that while the students were away at school and unable to attend, Camilla Wainwright, executive director of the Scholarship Foundation, was there to represent them.
Recipients, who were each also given a chance to share a little about their backgrounds, majors and the degrees they were pursuing, all proffered thanks to the Orchid residents for their generous contributions. As the students’ relatives looked on with pride, so did the donors, delighted in the part they are playing in helping these deserving scholars achieve their educational aspirations.
“As I’ve said before, the giving spirit of Orchid members is one of the reasons that Orchid is such a special place. Once again, thanks for your generous support of Orchid Outreach,” said Baus.
Photos by Amy Saville
