Community, students partner to help St. Vincent de Paul

Published 3:30 am Wednesday, July 22, 2026

A months-long fundraising campaign brought in more than expected to support Sequim families and children in need through St. Vincent de Paul.

Nearly $60,000 will go to the nonprofit to help with locals in need of support for housing, utilities, food, and transportation.

St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church parishioners and community members donated $39,136 towards a matching $20,000 grant from The Student Community Partnership Initiative, a Sequim High School student group under guidance from the Sequim Education Foundation.

In total they brought in $59,136, which the groups celebrated on July 13.

St. Vincent de Paul President Ed Koszykowski thanked the parish and community that supported the matching campaign and said that they found many new donors to St. Vincent de Paul.

“I’m grateful to these young people here as well as to the members of the Sequim Education Foundation,” he said.

“Our youth are more aware of the world than I give them credit for sometimes. What they’re involved in and what they want to do, and like us, they want to make this a healthier and better community.

“So this (grant) gives us a wonderful opportunity to serve even more folks, especially those families with children and that is a good feeling to know that we’re in this together with this group of young people.”

Funds originated from a $25,000 grant from Amazon to Sequim High School following a local screening of “The Boys in the Boat” in December 2023. Hometown hero Joe Rantz was featured in the movie. He lived in Sequim while couch surfing between homes, and went on to win a gold medal in the 1936 Olympics in rowing. The donation was intended to support efforts to support at-risk and/or homeless youths in the area.

In the last year, the Student Community Partnership Initiative, formed under the Sequim Education Foundation and idealized by SHS 2026 graduate Laila Sundin and 2025 graduate Keira Morey, determined they wanted to help students and families with basic needs. The committee’s interviews with nonprofits led to the sizable matching grant.

“St. Vincent de Paul is by far (a nonprofit) that is most able to help people and has the most impact, and we can really see the money doing things for our friends and our neighbors,” Sundin said.

“St. Vincent de Paul is the perfect fit because you guys can track the money, so we knew where the money was going.”

Koszykowski said he’ll provide a final report to the students about the funds, and the volunteer group is considering options to expand their offerings and ways to reach people.

“The focus again is making sure that we’re impacting the lives of families with children,” he said about the funds.

Next school year

SHS sophomore Kendall Adolphe told St. Vincent de Paul volunteers on July 13 that they’ll reach out to students about internships with interested local nonprofits to help them with social media, general marketing, and other needs.

“We know you guys are so busy already, so (through this) we can have more (help) for you,” she said.

John Pehrson, a 2026 SHS graduate and member of The Student Community Partnership Initiative, came up with the idea to connect nonprofits and students interested in nonprofit work as an internship.

St. Vincent de Paul volunteers said they hope to increase awareness of their offerings with young people, children, and families along with older adults.

“Part of what we’re hoping to do is to take students and match them with certain organizations so they will be passionate and will see the joy and the work that they’re doing,” Sundin said.

“That’s really what our job is going to be, just to make sure that the person who’s going to (help a) certain nonprofit is a good fit and will be comfortable there and be able to learn there because really ultimately that’s what an internship is, an opportunity to learn about the process and a way of doing things.

“I just can’t think of anything more wonderful than going to nonprofits and learning how you can help.”

To support St. Vincent de Paul, send mail to P.O. Box 2114, Sequim, WA, 98382. Its emergency line is 360-683-2112.

Inquiries can be made to St. Vincent de Paul President Ed Koszykowski at ekoszykowsi@att.net

For more about the Sequim Education Foundation, visit sequimeducationfoundation.org or email to Executive Director Lauren Denton at executivedirector@sequimeducationfoundation.org.