Saturday, May 10, 2025
77.0°F

Foundation celebration

Jeff Selle | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 11 years, 10 months AGO
by Jeff Selle
| June 26, 2013 9:00 PM

photo

<p>Mandy Evans, executive director for the Panhandle Animal Shelter, far right, visits with Clayton York and Rayanna Sherman after being awarded the On the Spot Grant from the Idaho Community Foundation.</p>

COEUR d'ALENE - Nonprofits, educators and other groups from all over Idaho have come to rely on the Idaho Community Foundation for financial support since it was established in 1988.

And former ICF President Alice Hennessy, who helped create it, wanted to celebrate the foundation's 25 years of success at a luncheon at The Coeur d'Alene Resort on Tuesday.

More than 200 people, many of them philanthropists, turned out to see Gary Schneidmiller and his mother, Gladys, honored with a Friends of the Foundation award.

They also came to listen to America's Veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker, and to participate in selecting a local nonprofit with a $2,500 on-the-spot grant.

The Schneidmillers were honored for creating a scholarship fund for Post Falls High School graduates in the 1990s. To date, the fund has helped 13 students attend college.

It was something Gladys Schneidmiller wanted to do, but wasn't able to, when she graduated from high school years ago.

"My mother wanted to attend Washington State College and she got a scholarship to do that, but it was only for one semester, so she didn't attend," Schneidmiller told the crowd after accepting the award.

Instead, Gladys worked her way through a couple of years of business school by picking apples in Otis Orchards. That wasn't much of a stretch for the 95-year-old, who was born in a small Montana town just outside Great Falls in 1918.

Schneidmiller's mother spent most her childhood working on a farm at a time when Native Americans and school children still rode horses to get to their destinations.

"Braves used to ride up on horseback and watch my mother working in the fields," Schneidmiller said.

He told a story of how his mother's family worked its way across Montana over the years and finally settled down in Post Falls. That was 1949, when land cost $50 an acre.

The Schneidmillers eventually accumulated 3,500 acres in the area Knudtsen Chevrolet sits now.

"Then there came a time when we were able to give back," Schneidmiller said. "It was that ethic that got us involved with the Idaho Community Foundation."

He said there are four students working their way through the University of Idaho and Washington State University on Schneidmiller scholarships.

Gladys's desire to be involved in Washington State University prompted her to become a benefactor, and she helped fund the cougar statue on campus.

"So, in a sense, she got involved in a different way," he concluded to a standing ovation.

As part of the 25-year celebration, the foundation had three nonprofit groups pitch projects for a $2,500 on-the-spot grant that was selected by the audience.

Artist Barbara Mueller pitched "The Story Catcher Project." It is an extension of the "Portrait of a Town" project. She wants to capture the spirit of Coeur d'Alene through video interviews of its inhabitants. In her presentation she ran clips of interviews she already has in the bag. Jim Elder, who recently passed away, was in one of those clips.

Mueller was seeking the grant to purchase equipment to continue the program and house it in a dedicated room at what Coeur d'Alene Tribal Elder Cliff Sijohn dubbed the "Lodge of the Storyteller" before he passed away. The Lodge of the Storyteller is the Coeur d'Alene library.

Festival Dance and Performing Arts was seeking funding for a youth outreach program to bring world-class dance experience to small rural communities in a five-county region.

"It's an art experience they wouldn't have without your donation," said Executive Director Cindy Barnhart.

Mandy Evans pitched a new social media program designed to help with pet adoption through the Panhandle Animal Shelter in Sandpoint. The program, which is housed in the Forrest Bird Charter School, is a social media marketing class that is adapted to market pet adoption.

Students Clayton York and Rayanna Sherman helped create the multi-media pitch which eventually won the $2,500 grant.

The other two programs received a $1,000 grant as consolation prizes.

The keynote speaker, Dr. Marty Becker, kept the luncheon lively with his talk on the importance of giving back and the Human-Animal Bond. Becker, a Bonners Ferry resident, is a nationally renowned veterinarian.

In fact, he has been dubbed America's Veterinarian by America's Doctor Oz.

"I actually talked to Dr. Oz today," Becker said. "I told him I was speaking today and he asked me if I was going to wear my Canadian tuxedo. I told him of course I was.

"They always tease me about my outfit."

The Canadian tuxedo is a denim shirt with a red tie.

Becker's talk quickly honed in on a dynamic he calls the Human-Animal Bond.

"This bond made me financially successful and emotionally wealthy," he said.

It's the bond that everyone has with their pets. He pointed out how amazing it is that everyone can remember their first pet - the name they gave it, and the affectionate experiences they have had with their pets.

"The best thing about dogs when they greet you is that they never have a better offer," he said, explaining it is kind of like when we meet a celebrity.

He said a dog is always eager to greet you with all the enthusiasm they can muster. And, in many cases, the owner is eager to receive the greeting.

Becker said that dynamic is the Human-Animal Bond. It is the bond that psychologically permits dog owners to kiss their dogs even though they know it might not be healthy.

"It is like when your dog comes out of the barn with that green smile," he said. "They just got done digging up a gopher and licking themselves in hard to reach places, and you know all that and just let them kiss you anyway."

He explained how that bond is similar to what he calls the "Giving Glow."

He related that to his neighbors in a rural area near Bonners Ferry.

"My neighbors live a smile away, and they are always eager to help when you need it," he said. "I can't even take a walk without six people stopping and asking if I need a lift."

That's the kind of giving that motivates him. He and his wife have always strived to give away 50 percent of what they earn each year - even borrowing the money in hard times, Becker said.

He said his accountant has tried to reason with him, suggesting that he only give what he can instead of borrowing money. But Becker and his wife insist on doing it anyway.

"Groups and individuals have come to rely on us for support," he said. "The bottom 10 percent of wage earners in the United States are in the top one-third of wage earners worldwide."

He said that's what makes the Idaho Community Foundation special. It provides a place for people who have something to give, and also a place for groups and individuals who need support.

Hennessy closed the meeting by giving the history of the foundation and posing a question to the audience:

"Ask yourself, without the foundation, where would Joe Albertson have gone to share his wealth with all of Idaho's small communities? Where would Herbert McAvoy of Coeur d'Alene been able to go to share over a half a million dollars to help education in his community?"

MORE IMPORTED STORIES

Power of pets
Coeur d'Alene Press | Updated 12 years, 6 months ago
'Dogtoberfest' celebrates power of pets
Bonner County Daily Bee | Updated 12 years, 6 months ago
Veterinarian to sign books
Coeur d'Alene Press | Updated 13 years, 5 months ago

ARTICLES BY JEFF SELLE

June 21, 2015 9 p.m.

NAACP calls for continued investigation of hate mail

SPOKANE — The newly appointed president of the NAACP said Friday that the local chapter is still interested in finding out who mailed the threatening letters to the organization, but police say they have exhausted all leads.

March 21, 2016 9 p.m.

Democrats double down

Tuesday caucus will take place in two locations

COEUR d’ALENE — The Democratic salvo in Idaho’s presidential nomination process will get underway tomorrow night in two locations in Kootenai County.

Who wants Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive?
May 3, 2016 9 p.m.

Who wants Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive?

ITD, city of Cd’A, Eastside Highway District work on proposal

COEUR d’ALENE — An Idaho Transportation Department proposal to transfer ownership of Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive to local jurisdictions is back on the table after being placed on the back burner in 2013.