Eastside Business and Professional Women to hold annual fundraiser

Eastside Business and Professional Women (Eastside BPW) presents its annual scholarship fundraiser, "Night on the Town" at 6 p.m. Sunday, April 26 at SecondStory Repertory, the professional theater on the upper level of Redmond Town Center.

Admission ($20 in advance, $25 at the door) includes an improv comedy show, gourmet salads and hors d' oeuvres, a silent auction and raffle drawings.

Funds generated by the event will provide a college scholarship for a young, local woman who is graduating from high school and also a scholarship for a mature woman who needs to update her job skills at a local school such as Lake Washington Technical College or Bellevue Community College. Scholarship amounts will be dependent on the amount of money raised through "Night on the Town," said Jaime Weber, treasurer and scholarship chair of Eastside BPW and Amy Armstrong Maggio of Redmond's Windermere Real Estate, who is an active member of Eastside BPW.

Criteria for the high school graduate's scholarship include "being successful and active at home, at school and in the community," said Weber. "We ask about her involvement more than her GPA. It's not just based on grades but on a well-rounded person."

For the worker retraining scholarship, candidates should be "a head of household, completing a degree program and have financial need," said Weber. "We usually only receive three or four applications per scholarship. This year, we are receiving many more."

Eastside BPW meets at 6 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at Watercress Asian Bistro, 16505 Redmond Way. The $25 entry fee typically includes dinner and a guest speaker. This month's meeting will be a working meeting at which members evaluate scholarship applications and the May meeting will be a banquet at which the scholarships are awarded.

The current Eastside BPW group is hoping to expand, to enlist more women from Redmond, Kirkland and Woodinville to lobby for personal, professional and political issues affecting female workers. Monthly meetings have featured such topics as "self-care, financial planning and retirement and ways to help young women develop communication skills. We are friendly women who are passionate about our careers and supporting each other's businesses," said Armstrong Maggio.

For more information, contact Jaime Weber at (425) 556-4380 or jaime.weber@comcast.net or visit www.bpweastside.com.

Contact Redmond Reporter Reporter Mary Stevens Decker at mdecker@redmond-reporter.com or (425) 867-0353, ext. 5052.

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