Renton’s P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization) Chapter EI is holding its 16th Annual Dinner and Basket Auction Oct. 11 at Renton Technical College.
The silent auction begins at 5:30 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m. and the live auction at 7:30 p.m. Proceeds benefit local scholarships and the group’s international educational projects. P.E.O. is a philanthropic and educational organization that aims to increase higher-education opportunities for women.
One of Chapter EI’s international educational projects is the International Peace Scholarship Fund. Through this fund, the Renton chapter is helping fund the studies of Nika Nguon, 37. Nguon, from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, is a student in the University of Washington’s School of Social Work. After graduating in June 2009 Nguon will help start the first college-level social work program at the Royal University of Phnom Penh in Cambodia. She will ensure disability issues are included in the curriculum.
Nguon had polio when she was nine months old. She now uses a wheelchair or crutches to walk. Life was not equal for Nguon as a disabled person in Cambodia.
She says she had “less opportunity to get an education, less opportunity for employment and less opportunity for participation in social activity. And even in my family, I had less opportunity than other siblings.”
Nguon hopes to change that inequality for other disabled Cambodians. She wants to “improve their opportunity for a better life.”
Chapter EI President Dee Thierry calls Nguon “an incredible young woman.”
“She has such a positive attitude. It’s incredible she stays that way given all that she’s been through,” Thierry says.
Chapter EI’s local scholars are Kelly Rossnagel, sociology at Washington State University; Cory Rossnagel, film/international studies at Portland State University; Kasi Wells, civil engineering at Seattle University; and Katherine Root, pre-engineering, then biomedical engineering, then medical school.
P.E.O. Chapter EI’s 16th Annual Dinner & Basket Auction is open to the public. Tickets are $15 per person. Children under 10 are free. Tickets may be purchased in advance by writing Beth Shively at s.shively@comcast.net. For more information call Dee Thierry at 425-891-7213.
