Eugene Rotary Scholarship Foundation
The Eugene Rotary Scholarship Foundation (ERSF) was incorporated on June 13, 1956. Each member of the Rotary Club of Eugene is a voting member of the ERSF corporation.
The Bylaws of the Eugene Rotary Scholarship Foundation state that the annual meeting of the Foundation shall be held on the second Tuesday of July. President of the ERSF Board of Trustees (Board) Scott Palmer led the 69th annual meeting in July 2024.
Current board members Scott Palmer and Ed Barclay are leaving their positions on the Board after having completed nine years of service on the Board. An election was held to fill the vacant positions. Chris Binstadt and Liz Ness were elected. Chris is one of our newest members, having joined the Club in June 2024. Chris is currently serving as co-volunteer coordinator for our Food for Lane County food rescue team. He is self-employed as a technology consultant. Liz Ness is a past president of the Club. Last year, as immediate past president, she served on the Board of Trustees for the ERSF and on the Club’s Board of Directors. She has been a Club member since 2018 and works as a financial advisor and vice-president at Stifel.
After the election, a report from the Board stating the health of the corporation was presented to the Club. At the conclusion of the report, President Scott awarded ERSF scholarships to our six 2024 scholars. In addition to the scholarship awards, and through the efforts of club member Mike Grudzien (also a NexStep Recycling board member) and Jessica Ahrenholtz, the executive director of NextStep, our scholars were awarded fully rebuilt laptop computers from NextStep. Jessica presented the laptops to our scholars. This is the fourth year of the ERSF’s collaboration with NextStep to ensure our scholars will begin their college careers well-equipped to succeed.
Scott Palmer
Ed Barclay