NEWHALL – Benton County’s 40 & 8 presented a grant to Kiah Coffin, Newhall, at a meeting on Dec. 5 at the Whiskey Tavern, Newhall.

Jay Herman of Shellsburg explained 40 & 8 is the “Society of 40 men and eight horses, founded in 1920 in Philadelphia, PA. Interested in nurses’ training, in 1955 they recognized a shortage of registered nurses, so they started financial assistance to those who were enrolled for nurses training. The 40 & 8 has nationally helped over 32,000 people with scholarships for training.

Coffin is a 2022 Benton graduate. She received the group’s first $2,000 Nurses Training Grant Award. She is in her third year of nurses training at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids. Herman said that in Coffin’s application that her grandmother had a great part in her decision to become a nurse. Her grandmother was an RN while her grandfather served in Vietnam.

Herman presented the check with Alan Woodhouse of the 40 and 8.