O Wines scholarships

Better than expected!

As you may remember from the article we published in August 2008 on Stacy Lill and Kathy Johanson, owners of O Wines, they created a company and produced a wine in less than two years. What was the rush? Their passion to help deserving young women get the education to improve their lives. They feel strongly that education can break unhealthy cycles, giving women the self esteem to take command of their own lives.

Their ultimate goal is to fund one million scholarships in their lifetimes and eventually build an academy to provide a safe place to learn for motivated young women who, under normal circumstances, wouldn't be able to afford a higher education. Huge dreams have to start with small steps and last year they granted their first scholarship to Angel Paullin (middle in photo above, Stacy at left, Kathy on right) who is studying to become a medical doctor. Ultimately, she would like to open a free clinic for children in Rwanda.

A percentage from the sale of each bottle of O Chardonnay goes to the scholarship fund, Opportunity for Success Scholarship, administered by the College Success Foundation. They offered Angel a scholarship earlier than they had imagined and were hoping to do a second scholarship. But sometimes, even better things happen. They have just awarded three more scholarships-far more and much faster than anticipated. It just goes to show what passion, good wine and hard work can accomplish!

Each scholarship is for $5,000 per year for four years and is matched by the State. Girls must be between the ages of 11 and 18 and are paired with a mentor who will be part of their lives from the time they're accepted through graduation. The young women choose their post-secondary education--it can be anything they want. "They can go to a community college or a four-year university. They can study to become a police officer, a hair technician or an engineer. We just want them to get the education," say Kathy and Stacy.

The three new scholarship recipients are, left to right, Marleny Dominguez, Adrianna Droz and Angielene Agliam, with Kathy on the left and Stacy on the right. All three have been accepted and will begin college this fall. Marleny will be going to the University of Washington and will do a double major in Nursing and Communications. Adrianna will be going to Central Washington University to be a Physical Therapy major. She is musically talented as well and has played her trumpet on several occasions at Carnegie Hall. Angie will be attending Washington State University, majoring in Communications.

Each time they're able to award a scholarship, Stacy and Kathy get a renewed sense of the importance of this program. "We're so excited to be able to do three more scholarships this quickly," they say. And more good news--this year's vintage of O Chardonnay is "probably the best yet" according to Kathy. That's another good reason to buy a bottle and help send a young woman to college!

Connie Adams/August-September 2009

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