Hood River P.E.O. generates scholarship funds through an annual multi-family yard sale. This year’s yard sale will be Friday and Saturday, July 8-9, at the Pine Grove Grange, 2835 Van Horn Drive, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The sale will include everything from household items to recreational equipment and furniture. All proceeds will go toward scholarships for women.
There are many service organizations that provide great benefit back to the local community such as the Lions, Elks, Kiwanis, and Rotary, but one such group is rarely noticed: The Philanthropic Educational Organization, or P.E.O., which is a women’s only group dedicated to funding post-secondary educational opportunities for other women, according to a press release.
P.E.O. is an International organization where women celebrate the advancement of women; educate women through scholarships, grants, awards, loans, and stewardship of the four-year Cottey College for Women in Missouri, and motivate women to achieve their highest potential.
There are 225,000 P.E.O. members in more than 6,000 chapters across the United States and Canada, 150 of which are in Oregon. Here in the Gorge there’s a P.E.O. chapter in Hood River, one in White Salmon, and three in The Dalles.
In 2021, the Hood River P.E.O. Chapter AE awarded more than $2,800 in scholarships to HRVHS graduates and $4,000 in 2022.
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