Rachael Hanks and Suzanne M. Barbour have been chosen as the first-ever recipients of Les Dames d’Escoffier, scholarships endowed by the Seattle Chapter (LDES) at South Seattle Community College (SSCC).

Hanks, 25, a Washington native who maintains a high GPA in SSCC’s rigorous Baking and Pastry-Arts Program, will receive the LDES Culinary Arts Endowed Scholarship Fund in Honor of LDES Co-Founder, Dame Kathleen Stang.

Barbour, 49, a third-quarter student in SSCC’s Wine Technology program specializing in Sales and Marketing, is the recipient of the LDES Wine Technology—Northwest Wine Academy Endowed Scholarship.

The scholarship endowments, created in October 2011, were funded with two cash gifts of $25,000. In addition to the $25,000 endowments, LDES provided two one-time-only, non-endowed cash gifts of $1,000 for the 2011-2012 scholarships.

LDES named the culinary-arts scholarship in honor of Seattle Dame Kathleen Desmond Stang, a well-known Northwest cookbook author and food writer, and one of the three founders of the Seattle Chapter, who passed away last August.

The scholarships were administered and awarded by the SSCC Foundation & Development Office.

Les Dames d’Escoffier, Seattle Chapter, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charitable organization, is an invitational society of professional women of high achievement in the fields of food, beverage, and hospitality. Its mission is education, advocacy, and philanthropy, and it provides and supports opportunities in these areas.

During its 23-year history, the organization has disbursed in excess of $425,000. The chapter’s 61 members include such food-and wine-industry trailblazers as Kathy Casey (Kathy Casey Food Studios—Liquid Kitchen), Holly Smith (Cafe Juanita), Fran Bigelow (Fran’s Chocolates), Kay Simon (Chinook Wines), and Rose Ann Finkel (Pike Brewing Company). www.lesdamesseattle.com