Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation Receives $250,000 Grant from Bill and Melinda Gates

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation is pleased to announce a gift of $250,000 from Bill and Melinda Gates. This gift will be used to establish the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation—Mary Maxwell Gates Scholarship Fund.

"Mary had a gift for communicating the lessons she had learned and she had great insight about her environment," stated William H. Gates Sr., Mary's husband and director of the William H. Gates Foundation.

Patsy Levang, Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation President said, "We are so pleased that many of our members will be awarded a Mary Maxwell Gates Scholarship. I can think of nothing better to inspire and motivate undergraduate Kappas than her story of determination and perseverance. She showed by her life that a tenacious, hard-working volunteer can have an extreme amount of power and influence and can help make society a better place to live."

Additional contributions received from Kappas and friends can be designated for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation—Mary Maxwell Gates Scholarship Fund in Mary's memory.

Throughout her life, Mary Maxwell Gates was a dedicated community volunteer and loyal member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. She was President of her University of Washington chapter and the Seattle Alumnae Association. In 1986 the Fraternity awarded her its distinguished Alumnae Achievement Award in recognition of Mary's community leadership as a director on many corporate boards, a regent for the University of Washington and a director of United Way International, to name just a few. The Seattle Association presented her with the Doris Bronson Morrill Award in 1975 and in 1994 established the Mary Maxwell Gates Volunteer of the Year Award to honor her memory.

Founded in 1870 at Monmouth College, Illinois, Kappa Kappa Gamma is a women's fraternity with 127 chapters at leading colleges and universities and over 350 alumnae associations throughout Canada and the United States. Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity Headquarters is located in Columbus, Ohio. The Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation provides financial resources to support the Fraternity's educational and charitable programs: Scholarships, Rose McGill Confidential Financial Aid, Educational and Leadership Programming and The Heritage Museum.