If spending most of his free time volunteering for Sequim’s Boys & Girls Club and Food Bank weren’t enough, Stephen Rosales is revving it up even more.

He and his wife, Kim, are donating their 2005 Corvette to be raffled at this year’s Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula auction. Proceeds will go toward a new scholarship endowment that will give $1,000 each year to a high school senior boy and girl. 

“Mentally, I feel prepared to get rid of it,” Rosales said.

He said the timing is right because he hardly drives it and interacting with needy people almost every day makes keeping the car harder to stomach.

“It will make me feel good to give it away.”

Rosales bought the car two years ago after what he called a mid-life crisis.

He turned 50 and was dealing with a recent move to Sequim, where he was having a hard time adjusting.

Around that time, he began volunteering at the Boys & Girls Club in Sequim and soon became well-known by club members.

Rosales said he gets funny looks from parents sometimes in the grocery store because their children will wave and/or hug him.

“They think, ‘Who is that guy?’”

The connection he’s experienced through the Boys & Girls Club has been a saving grace for him. “I’ve told some kids that this place saved my life,” he said. “This is how I’ve dealt with my mid-life crisis.”

Road trip
Another reason Rosales wanted to start a scholarship fund came from a summer field trip with club children.

They visited a recently remodeled Boys & Girls Club in Seattle that received funding from a former club member who became a successful entrepreneur.

Rosales said he was inspired because that former club member gave back and he hopes Sequim students will be able to do the same.

The scholarship’s requirements include that applicants must be involved in the club and/or do community service for it.

Rosales likes to give back in recognition of those who helped him get to where he is now.

His mother raised him and his two brothers alone, and he and Kim decided to honor their parents by naming the scholarship fund after them  — the Louis and Margarethe Rosales Scholarship for boys and Bryce and Gail Fish Scholarship for girls.

Scholarship plans
Rosales estimates his Corvette is worth about $34,000 because it has only 4,000 miles on the odometer and the low mileage has kept it from depreciating in value.

At the auction on Nov. 14, the minimum bid will be $30,000, with all money going to the scholarship fund.

His goal is to get a base sum in place that more people will donate to as the years pass. He is optimistic to make it a 100-year plan and plans to include the fund in his will.

“People are getting a twofer with a nice car and helping kids for at least 15 years.”

The Sequim club is taking sealed bids prior to the auction and will receive phone-in bids the same night.

If interested in a private showing of the car, call Rosales at 461-6038.

Reach the Boys & Girls Club at 683-8095.

Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.