Moscow woman wants to bring kindness to the forefront

People seem to be so busy nowadays that kindness can sometimes be forgotten.

Tiffany Bentley, a real estate agent at Latah Realty in Moscow, is trying to bring kindness to the forefront again in honor of her late mother, Donna Bigford, who died Feb. 16 at the age of 70.

Bentley will award a $1,000 scholarship to a Latah County high school female athlete who best describes what kindness means to her in a 1,000-word essay.

Besides the scholarship money, the student’s essay will be published in the local Home and Harvest Magazine. The deadline for submissions is Aug. 1 and essays can be emailed to tiffany@latahrealty.com.

“When she passed away I was trying to find something that would pay it forward because she was one of the kindest people you’ve ever met,” Bentley said. “Everybody always felt like the moment you met her, you felt like you were immediately under her wing.”

Being a mother, she said, was Bigford’s favorite job.

Bentley, who is one of six children, said her mother never missed her children’s ballgames, and she actually once quit a job because she was scheduled to work during a game. She said Bigford was always a cheerleader for children at their ballgames, and she would haul a wagon full of food to feed the entire team.

Bentley said the scholarship is a way to pay it forward to female athletes who want to extend their education by attending college.

“My mom was one of the strongest ladies I’ve ever met, so I think that’s what I was ultimately trying to promote is strong ladies,” Bentley said.

Bentley said she always tells her daughters there is always time for kindness, which is often forgotten in society.

“I always tell my girls they can be strong and they can be competitive in sports but they will be polite,” Bentley said. “And so that was kind of the philosophy of everything my mother instilled in me, of me trying to instill in other ladies.”

Bentley said Bigford was raised in Troy and lived in Seattle for many years, working as a flight attendant before returning to the Palouse about 20 years ago.

Bentley said the female athletes who submit an essay are not required to have plans to compete athletically at the college level in order to be eligible for the scholarship.

Bentley said she expects the winner of the scholarship to be announced in early September. She said she hopes to continue the scholarship award every year.