Lauren Hunter, who became a member of our club in October, and who was sponsored by Erik Granroth, entertained us with her classification talk on March 8. 

 

 

Born Lauren Bishop in 1983 and grew up in Arlington. .  She has a brother and sister.  Her parents have lived in the same house with the same phone number since 1979.  She has seen what true love is by watching her parents. 

 

She has a lot of aunts and uncles.  Over 80 cousins.  She was not a great student and talkative.  Lauren went to Skagit Valley Community College and received her general education associates degree.  Moved to Houston when she was 18 to live with her aunt and uncle.  She was a nanny for her cousin. 

 

She received a degree in mortuary science from University of Saint Thomas in Houston.  Licensed to embalm in three states.  She couldn’t handle the emotional toll of the job.  Lauren received her Masters from Rice University in Houston in molecular biology. 

 

Lauren joined a bowling league to meet friends.  She was put on a team with 3 eighty year old men.  She used her student loan money to buy season tickets to the Houston Astros.  She went to 81 games by herself or with a date for three years.  She started writing grants to fund her education.  She graduated without any debt.  

 

Lauren was married briefly and her husband died in 2009.  Their house burned down.  She then left Houston and moved to New York.  Lauren worked for Planned Parenthood Federation for seven years as the director for scientific philanthropy.  She reviewed all the grants.  She learned what to look for and what to put in grant requests.  Planned Parenthood lost their funding and her job was cut.

 

She moved to Chicago and was the director of corporate and foundation giving at the Museum of Science and Industry.  She then applied for a job in the Virgin Islands.  She moved and lived in a hostel under the job started.  Lauren had to walk and take a safari bus from her home to the job.  She met her boyfriend in the Virgin Islands.  The hurricane demolished their house.

Lauren and her boyfriend moved back to Arlington together.  Laurens’ boyfriend is the assistant superintendent at a golf course.  Lauren started Hunter Funding and does grant writing, but she is trying to find out what she wants to do with her life.

 

Lauren has been a Rotarian in the past.  She got great joy out of seeing kids in the Virgin Island carrying back packs and school supplies supplied by her Rotary Club.  After returning to Arlington she visited our club as a visiting Rotarian before being proposed for membership.  Her community involvement since returning to Arlington, besides Rotary, has included joining the board of the Stillaguamish Senior Center and working on the Citizens Committee for passage of the bond.

 

Based on Lauren's presentation, it is clear you don't need a fancy power point presentation to make a classification talk entertaining and interesting.  Thanks Lauren for sharing your history with out club!