Alyson McGregor

Alyson McGregor and the support of her Purple Crayon Foundation over the last twenty years has been instrumental in shaping our outreach to rural and tribal communities throughout Washington State.

Her contributions supported both our undergraduates and our community partners. In 2003, she first funded a quarter-long poetry outreach project working with the Quileute in LaPush. The student who led that project, Zach Savich, has gone on to be well-known published poet.  He always reflects back on his time in LaPush and the support of Alyson has being pivotal in his current writing with young people.

Alyson stayed in close touch with the Pipeline Project (now Riverways Education Partnerships) through the years and became particularly interested in our dream of creating a year-long program with the children at Neah Bay Elementary. Her Purple Crayon Foundation funded the first year-long partnership in Neah Bay for starting in 2010. That work lay the groundwork for our expanding to year-long programming in other parts of the state as well. 

Alyson McGregor, in the Fall of 2020, has now gifted Riverways the ability to start an endowment. Alyson’s gift will allow Riverways to continue building our program with Neah Bay and other rural and tribal communities, support the assessment of our work, and create new year-long programs for other schools across the state.