by Aaron Vehling
Thisweek Newspapers

Farmington students whose families can't afford to pay for park and recreation activities are in luck.

The Farmington Rotary Club has will set aside $3,000 annually to help youngsters get involved in youth programs.

Mayor Kevan Soderberg said at the Oct. 2 City Council meeting he was pleased with the pledge.

"This will have a huge impact," he said. "I support this wholeheartedly."

A city-initiated scholarship effort, which was aimed at those who couldn't afford registration fees for youth programs, was started three years ago, but it did not perform as intended.

It was funded by a 2 percent charge on the overall registration fee and through the solicitation of donations. The former was a bit counterintuitive because it amounted to taking money already received by the city's general fund, according to a report from Parks and Recreation Director Randy Distad, and the latter proved difficult because enough donations were tough to secure.

Enter the Farmington Rotary Club.

In 2005 it donated 10 park benches and early this year offered the city more. City staff had another suggestion: to reinvigorate the Youth Scholarship Program.

The Rotary Club elected to fund the scholarship at a rate of $3,000 annually with some conditions, one of which is the renaming of the program to the "Rotary Club of Farmington Park and Rec Youth Scholarship Program."

In January of each year, the Rotary Club will notify the city regarding the availability of funds for the year.

The Rotary Club of Farmington is part of an international organization which is dedicated to community service, among the local efforts in which it is involved includes the District 192 Family Night Out and the operation of concession stands at home high school sports games.

Aaron Vehling is at aaron.vehling@ecm-inc.com.

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