Fourth District Student Speakers Foundation
The Fourth District Student Speakers Foundation is a California nonprofit corporation administered by a board of directors and 15 trustees. The purpose of the Foundation is to provide scholarships to augment the prizes awarded to the winners of the California Multiple District Four Student Speakers Program.
This year the Foundation will provide scholarships totaling $103,500.00. From this amount, each of the fifteen District winners will receive a $4,500.00 scholarship, each of the four Area winners will receive an additional $6,500.00 scholarship and the winner of the Multiple District Four Contest will receive an additional $10,000.00 scholarship.
The assets of the Foundation are invested primarily in federally insured, term accounts to provide the highest rate of return obtainable with maximum guaranteed security for the assets of the Foundation. With this investment policy and with additional income provided through contributions to the Foundation, the Lions Fourth District Student Speakers Foundation, Inc. will be able to continue its annual support of the scholarship awards program.
1937 – Student Speakers Contest began and in the early day’s desk sets, saving bonds, etc., were given as awards to the winners.
1960 - The Lions of MD-4, seeing that the awards were not adequate, approached several Lions IP Fred W. Smith, DG Harry J. Aslan, ID Dwight E. Stanford and PDG Donald E. Snyder, to meet and organize the Lions Fourth District Student Speakers Foundation, Inc.
1965 - Approved as a California Non-Profit Corporation, 501-C3. 1965. As a tribute to these “Founding Fathers”, the four Foundation Fellowships have been named in their honor. After the Foundation began, donations grew rapidly for the scholarship program.
Present - Since the inception of the Foundation, more than $2 Million has been awarded in scholarships to over 1,000 Students. Presently, each year $103,500 is awarded for scholarships.
“Never in a million years, did I think I could make the final round, let alone win. Although winning was a plus, I would say that learning to be confident in my ability as a speaker and an individual, would be my greatest takeaway. If someone from the middle of nowhere, can do it, I have faith that you can too. If not at first, “try, try and try again.””
HISTORY THE FOURTH DISTRICT STUDENT SPEAKERS FOUNDATION, INC.
When District 4 was split up into five Sub-Districts in 1937, Fred Smith (later International President) became the first District Governor of District 4-C. His District ran from Stockton down to the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and included the coast Area from Paso Robles through Oxnard. He realized that the Clubs in his new District had nothing more in common than they did with the Club in San Francisco or San Diego. He expressed his thought to the other officers in his District and asked for suggestions. One of his Deputy District Governors, Frank Colston, superintendant of schools in Oxnard, suggested a student speaker contest for high school students in the District. The idea was approved as something that would give all the Clubs in the District something in common and hopefully, would bring them closer together as a unit. From that we are told, the contest was a great success.
The following year, James Hodges, District Governor from Covina, proposed to the Council of Governors that Fred’s speech contest become a project for all of District Four. The proposal was adopted and the contest has been one of our District’s principal projects ever since. During the past sixty years, many groups and Clubs have followed our lead by engaging in joint service activities. It is one of the stars in our MD4 crown.
In the beginning the Student Speaker Foundation was organized by Don Snyder, District Governor of 4-A3, 1958-59 who first asked PIP Fred Smith and then International Director Dwight Stanford to join him as the organizers and first directors of the Foundation. Don did all the work getting IRS and California taxing authorities approval. He is now a lifetime, honorary director of the Foundation, as is Dwight Stanford.
The Foundation’s first cash came from the profits of the Lions Goods Store at the MD4 convention. District Governor Al Mendel of Apple Valley, 1961-62, ran the store and suggested the gift. The first few years of the Foundation were a bit thorny. It was hard for the organization to collect money when it had very little prestige. Gradually the situation changed and the Foundation began to supplement the prizes which heretofore had been paid for entirety out of the MD4 budget. Foundation funds come entirely from voluntary donations and income from the accumulated assets.
Past International President Fred Smith was the first President of the Foundation, followed by Past International Directors Dwight Stanford and Robert E. Anderson. Past District Governors Seeley J. Kondris, George “Jake” Jacobssen served between 1994 and 2002, Gordon Wellman served between 2002 and 2005, PDG Al Ohrmund served between 2005-2012, PDG Ken Sherwood served between 2012-2015, PCC William Dunlevy served 2015-2016 and the current president is PDG Chris Ohrmund.
For the 2019-2020 Contest, the Foundation will provide all of the prizes above the Region level, as it has done now for many years. Each of the 15 District winners will receive a $4,500 scholarship. The four Area winners will each receive an additional $6,500 and the final MD4 winner another $10,000. For the latter, the total accumulated scholarships will be $21,000 and the other three Area winners will have $11,000 each. Total scholarships awarded in the Contest amount to $103,500; all from the Foundation.