Former Chapter 165 President and Scholarship Chair Gene Goldsmith, Chapter
President David Loomis, and Chapter Vice President Ron Wilson (far right)
present Bellingham Technical College Foundation President Dean Fulton with
a check to further underwrite the chapter’s Randy Hansen Scholarship.
Photo: Rose Loomis

The Randy Hansen Scholarship:
Keeping It Local

BY BRANDON GREULICH

In the last decade Bellingham, Washington, Chapter 165 has set up an endowment to underwrite scholarships for veterans and their families who attend Bellingham Technical College. The chapter’s Randy Hansen Scholarship began 2016 in collaboration with the local public technical college to help veterans from all eras, their spouses, and their descendants ease the financial burdens of attending the school.

The idea behind the scholarship is that more members of the community would be able to achieve their academic goals and find employment in the work force. Even more significant, perhaps, is the positive human impact that this program brings to the community and the lasting relationships it has created.

This initiative started in 2012, when Chapter 165 members, led by then-president Eugene Goldsmith, decided to try to help local veterans get their degrees. The fund started with a modest $5,000 and now exceeds $100,000.

The money goes into an endowment, a fund designed to maintain the capital, and the chapter uses the interest and dividends to cover the costs of the annual scholarships. To raise the funds, Chapter 165 holds community events such as an annual car show (See Parting Shot in the November/December 2018 issue), which usually nets about $5,000.

The chapter has also experienced generous windfalls in the face of tragedy. In 2021, for example, a chapter member donated his family’s Toyota pickup after his wife died. The chapter repaired the truck and sold it for $30,000, which went into the scholarship fund endowment.

The chapter was asked to contribute to statewide scholarship funds, but the members decided to keep the money they raised in the local community, and voted to keep their fund directly linked to Bellingham Technical School.

Every year, Chapter President David Loomis and other members look forward to the school’s sponsor dinner, during which they meet and dine with the scholarship recipients. One veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Alex Ambrose, told the chapter that the scholarship allowed him to put everything he had into his studies and his work at the fire department. He later came to a chapter meeting to personally thank the members.

Loomis is no stranger to helping his community. He has rounded up volunteers to build accessibility ramps for disabled veterans’ homes. In addition, he has collected and restored military uniforms for funeral burial honors. For him, to give back to his community makes everyone stronger. “It’s a great feeling,” he said when asked what it meant to see the impact of such projects, “and the whole chapter feels that way.”

If your chapter would like to learn more about the Chapter 165 scholarship and its community service programs, fell free to call David Loomis at 360-715-1462. He is eager to discuss them.

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