Northland Community Foundation's
Annual Celebration of Philanthropy Breakfast
The Northland Community Foundation was pleased to welcome nearly 400 attendees to our 38th Annual Celebration of Philanthropy breakfast!
It was an inspiring morning and we were pleased to award scholarships to nine outstanding Northland high school seniors.
We are delighted to list those awards and recipients here:
Soroptimist International of Kansas City Northland Healthcare Scholarship
Thea Einerson
Prosperity Planning Scholarship Fund
Ian Gold
Parkville Fine Arts Scholarship
Reese Dutton
Pastor Otis Cobbins Memorial Scholarship
Mary Quintanilla
J. Harold and Mabel Hamil Memorial Scholarship
Giavanna DeRose & Chamberline Webster
Virginia Whitsitt Scholarship
Avery Foster
Harvest Ball Founders’ Scholarship
Erin Anderson
Shown are Patty Garney, Erin Anderson and Sandra Doolin Mellinger
Virjean Burton Youth Philanthropy Award
Regulus Geary
Shown are Regulus Gear with representatives of Boost KC
Scholarship Award Winners
An inspiring portion of our event is bestowing the Pinnacle Award to one or more individuals.
This award is presented each year by the Northland Community Foundation to recognize and honor individuals, groups or businesses that epitomize civic pride and leadership, individual and neighborhood caring, and have made a significant charitable contribution either by personal deed or monetary commitment to our community.
We were pleased to have three recipients this year:
Marte Zirschky
Marte enjoyed a long career as a newspaper reporter working for numerous northland papers and the KC Star. At the same time, she was heavily involved with multiple senior outreach task forces from 1981 to present day. She still serves on many of the boards of the organizations formed from those task force findings. She was also an in-demand photographer for many northland events.
Dub and Joy Steincross
Dub and Joy have been active members in the northland community for many of their 62 years of marriage. Dub was a pastor for 35+ years serving five different churches.He was instrumental in the formation of the Northland Community Foundation and served as emcee of this event for many years. He spent most of his life helping others improve theirs. He passed away in 2025. Joy was the first woman elected to the William Jewell College Board of Trustees and served for 25 years. She has served on numerous other boards in KC and is a professional pianist. She worked at Pembroke High School for 16 years as an accompanist and was the staff accompanist at Woods Chapel Methodist Church for 27 years.
A large part of the morning involves announcing grants to Northland nonprofits doing meaningful work in our community. We were pleased to have a panel of directors from each agency describe their work and plans for the awarded funds.
To learn more about our 2025 partner agencies featured during our panel discussion at the breakfast, please click the following links:
Nonprofit Panel
Save the date for the 39th Annual Celebration of Philanthropy Breakfast Friday, April 30, 2027 Argosy Casino & Hotel
Sponsorship & ticket information will be coming later this year!
Northland Community Foundation
The Northland Community Foundation was established in 1986 to encourage charitable giving to benefit the families and children living in Clay and Platte counties. We believe that every person can make a difference in the world, and we strive to empower individuals and organizations to create positive change in their communities.