LaPaz Lions Club Endowed Scholarship Fund
Since 1943, the LaPaz Lions Club has been the only service organization in the LaPaz- North Township community. True to the Lion’s motto of “We Serve,” the Club has provided numerous academic and athletic awards to students at the old LaPaz High School and now LaVille Jr. – Sr. High School.
When one of the first Lilly Foundation gift initiatives, a $2 for $1 match, came available to the Marshall County Community Foundation, Lion Treasurer Dr. Don Balka, Director of the Foundation, began making contacts with Lions members, North Township citizens, and community businesses to produce needed finances to establish a permanent fund in the Foundation that would provide a scholarship, renewable for a second year, for a graduate of LaVille Jr. – Sr. High School from North Township.
The fund is currently over $30,000. A scholarship, now named the Dr. Don Balka LaPaz Lions Scholarship, in the amount of $500 is awarded annually to a North Township graduating student. Recent recipients are attending Purdue University and Indiana University.
A golf outing is held in July for the past several years with proceeds going to the endowment fund. The Club has also established a non-permanent fund in the Foundation that is used when needed for additional awards.