Even a busy cherry season hasn’t kept Stemilt from slowing down its local community support.
“The month of July started off with fun community events for Stemilt in the Wenatchee Valley,” said Brianna Shales, Stemilt’s communications manager. “With the July Fourth holiday we joined the Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce during its Wenatchee Valley Fourth of July celebrations. Then, later in the week, we presented our large donation to the Washington Apple Education Foundation for its scholarship funds.”
Jay Fulbright and West Mathison of Stemilt, Jennifer Witherbee of the Washington Apple Education Foundation, and Tate Mathison and Mark Blakney of Stemilt.
Stemilt sponsored and donated cherries to the Cherry Spitting Contest at the Wenatchee Valley Fourth of July celebrations, where contestants of all ages tried to spit the cherry pit as far as they could. The winner of the contest spit his pit upward of 20 feet.
“It was great to see such an enthusiastic crowd,” said Shales. “The holidays really bring this community together and being able to support something that involves our delicious dark-sweet cherries is something we are more than happy to do.”
Stemilt also donated a check for $100,000 to the Washington Apple Education Foundation. WAEF is a local organization that works to impact lives through access to educational opportunities.
The non-profit awarded more than $1 million in scholarships to 310 students last year. Stemilt has been partnering with WAEF for nearly 25 years and raises funds through Stemilt’s TKM Golf Tournament and the company’s Community Investment Committee.
Stemilt has multiple scholarships that children of its employees can apply for, plus one other that is open for all children whose parents work in the ag industry. Stemilt’s scholarships are used at accredited universities.
“WAEF offers many kids an opportunity to pursue higher education and work toward achieving their career goals,” said Shales. “It is a cause we strongly believe in and it is a great avenue to give back to these future local leaders.”
Stemilt’s community contributions fall under the company’s program, Responsible Choice, which was created by Stemilt founder Tom Mathison back in 1989. Mathison’s vision was to leave Earth as good as Stemilt could, and even better if possible. He was a strong believer in good merit and hard work.
“Tom believed in his community and wanted to ensure we could contribute to its success as much as we could,” said Shales. “And West, Tom’s grandson and president of Stemilt, has worked tirelessly to ensure that we keep that philosophy alive throughout our company today.”
