Kay Dudley, Awesome Seattle grantee

The Seattle chapter of the Awesome Foundation has awarded its first monthly, no-strings-attached $1,000 grant, officially bringing the organization’s mission of supporting “awesomeness” to our region.

And yes, after talking with her, we can confirm that the winner is awesome.

She is Kay Dudley, a 19-year-old sophomore studying performance production at Cornish College of the Arts, who will use the grant to support her Stories of Seattle Project — a.k.a. the “sandwiches project.”

Dudley, the daughter of two ministers, explains that the project started when she was in Portland, giving out free sandwiches to homeless people. She continued the tradition when she came to Seattle. When people wanted to give her something in return, she got the idea of asking them to let her record their stories. She plans to use the grant in part to create a website for the project, to share those stories more widely.

And of course, she’ll be buying lots of bread and ingredients for sandwiches. (No bologna, she promises.)

“Our first decision was tough, with 87 proposals to consider,” explains the Seattle chapter of the Awesome Foundation in a post. “Kay’s stood out for us as a top choice for our first grant because we wanted to support something that would serve the Seattle community and because we recognize that the challenges people are facing in these tough economic times are top of mind for everyone.  We felt that Kay’s project has the potential to honor the voices of people who are experiencing the worst consequences of the downturn.”

So how does Dudley feel about all of this?

“It feels awesome,” she said. “I’ve been using the word awesome constantly, but honestly it’s great to see people care about projects that are trying to do good in the world. I’m just so happy I can get funding to feed people and hear their stories.”

Anyone interested in helping Dudley with web development or any other aspect of the project can contact her at storiesofseattle@gmail.com.

The deadline for submissions for the second Awesome Foundation grant in Seattle is Oct. 31, and the application is here.

 

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