1. November 14, 2013
Letter of Recommendation
RE: Seth von Eggers
To Whom It May Concern:
I have been given this opportunity to write a letter of recommendation for Seth Von Eggers as he seeks
scholarships to further his education. It is with great pleasure that I complete this letter in my role as
project manager for Pendleton Connect.
I first met Seth in February 2012 as part of the Pendleton Cohort of The Ford Family Foundation’s
Leadership Development Program. Seth immediately stood out as a motivated, articulate, and passionate
member of the cohort. I had no idea that Seth was a high school student until he shared that with the
group. His maturity and presence was of someone with many more years under his belt. He was a very
active participant in our group discussions and was instrumental in deciding upon our cohort project,
Pendleton Connect. Our cohort took an opportunity presented by The Ford Family Foundation to create a
non-brick and mortar project. The project is a web-based volunteer network that aims to connect
volunteers and organizations looking for volunteers. As project manager of this project, I was faced with
the challenge of keeping a group of very busy individuals motivated about a project that they really could
not see. Fortunately, there were members of the cohort like Seth, who poured themselves into all aspects
from design and marketing to implementation.
As we were planning a “Volunteer Day,” a tragedy struck our town. A playground that had been built by
volunteers a few short years ago was burned by arsonists. This tragedy presented an opportunity to use
Pendleton Connect to organize the 650 plus volunteers needed to rebuild the park. I can recall sitting in
one of our first meetings after the park burned and listening to Seth talk about his memories in the park as
a child and how passionate he was about using Pendleton Connect to organize the volunteers and help
rebuild the park. Seth’s passion and dedication to the community helped spark a fire in a group that
needed it. He was able to motivate our entire group to get behind volunteer recruitment and he personally
reached out to hundreds of volunteers. His efforts were instrumental in the success of the rebuild and the
park stands today thanks in a large part to his efforts, but more importantly thanks to his attitude and the
spark he ignited in the group. I have no doubts that these efforts are just the beginning of Seth’s
dedication to community service and to his community. I look forward to working with him for many
years to come.
Please feelfree to contact me at 231-218-0756 if you would like to discuss anything further.
Respectfully,
Kristin K Dunlap, MPH,MPAS, PA-C
Pendleton Connect Project Manager