Twenty-three years ago, elementary school teacher Jan Lind-Sherman and her husband Vaughn Sherman came into a financial windfall after Vaughn won a lottery prize.
The couple decided to put the money to use as a benefit for the students Lind-Sherman taught at the former Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Madison Valley. They established the Martin Luther King Dream Foundation to provide scholarships for alumni to attend post-secondary school.
Now the foundation’s work is coming to an end. The old elementary campus closed in 2006 -- it has since become the MLK F.A.M.E. Community Center -- and the last of the school’s students graduated high school this year.
“We had a mission, and we accomplished it,” Lind-Sherman said.
The final Dream scholarship recipients will be awarded at the Community Center 1-5 p.m. July 15. Past recipients and alumni are invited to attend the ceremony, and a number of speakers from past scholarship ceremonies have been invited back, including former Mayor Norm Rice.
“We’re going to have one last get-together for students before we close shop for good,” Lind-Sherman said.
The foundation will close with about $100,000 in funds. That money will be donated to Seattle colleges, Lind-Sherman said.