The Prescott Regulators & Their Shady Ladies, an old west re-enactment group founded in 2004, has invested the proceeds of its volunteer endeavors in a variety of community causes. For the last six years, however, the group has focused its philanthropy on Yavapai College student veterans who need financial assistance to achieve their dreams.

In 2016, the non-profit organization established a Veterans, Military and Family Fund with the Yavapai College Foundation to provide scholarships to eligible veterans and their family members. In 2021, the group contributed $6,000 to the fund—the largest amount so far.

Past scholarship recipients include a single-parent veteran attending nursing school and a U.S. Coast Guard veteran and aspiring service-dog trainer enrolled in YC’s Canine Care and Handling program.

“It’s amazing what we are helping accomplish in our own communities,” said Longtime Regulators volunteer and board member Denise Mackey. “We’re extremely proud of our volunteers and we’re proud of what we do.”

Mackey and other group leaders attribute the YCF scholarship’s growth to the local businesses that sponsor their historically significant performances during summer events in downtown Prescott, to individual donors who help fill their collection hats year-round and to a variety of successful fundraising endeavors like gun raffles and special-event hosting and bartending gigs.

A number of group members are veterans themselves, which makes the scholarship program for veterans especially meaningful. Group members also appreciate the fact that nearly 100 percent of their annual gift to the YC Foundation is invested in student veterans via scholarships, Mackey said.

Along with helping veterans succeed, the mission of the Prescott Regulators & Their Shady Ladies is keeping the history of early Prescott alive – specifically the “wild west” years between 1866 and 1892. In 2008, the group became the official Old West Ambassadors for the City of Prescott and as such are sought after for living history lessons at area schools, for chamber of commerce activities and even “shot-gun weddings.”

Many of the group’s original founders were World’s Oldest Rodeo volunteers. More recent volunteers are drawn to the group by a love of Prescott’s early history and the chance to relive it. “Where else can you dress up like a cowboy and a shady lady?” asked volunteer John Stolp.

For more information about The Prescott Regulators & Their Shady Ladies, visit PrescottRegulators.org.

For information about the Yavapai College Foundation and scholarship giving opportunities visit www.yc.edu/ycf.