The Salem Community Foundation has awarded $117,200 in scholarships as part of the foundation’s annual scholarship program, according to a press release.
“The Salem Community Foundation is grateful for the individuals and families that have established scholarship funds over the years. This Foundation is entrusted with investing and administering these scholarship funds fulfilling the donor’s specific intentions for which the named scholarship fund was originally established,” said Salem Community Foundation Board of Directors President John Tonti.
This is the program’s 32nd consecutive year of providing direct financial assistance to community students seeking higher education, with 51 participants. Since the program’s start in 1991, $984,700 has been granted to eligible students to address the needs of college sophomores, juniors, and seniors whose initial scholarship funds had been canceled following high school graduation.
Tonti and Salem Community Foundation Chief Operating Officer Brittany Maniscalco co-chair the program, which reviews all applications, transcripts, and essays with the assistance of the Scholarship Committee, which includes Karl Getzinger, George Hays, Audrey Null, Lou Ramunno, and Joe Sedzmak.
This year’s recipients all received financial awards in the amount of $1,800 to $2,400 made possible through endowment funds including: the Evelyn Lease Fund established in 1969; the Sam and Bernice Keener fund established in 1991; the Salem Community Foundation Scholarship Fund established in 1991; the Avanell E. Beck Fund established in 1992; the Lyle and Mary Biehler Fund established in 1993; the Salem Label/Menegos Fund established in 1994; the George and Jeannette Emeny Fund established in 1995; the Betty Ruth Ulicny Fund established in 1999; the Hart/Litty Fund established in 2001; The Bruce P. and Eileen J. Gordon Fund established in 2010; the Herbert J. Hansell Fund established in 2015; and the Jacqueline E. Troll Fund established in 2016.
The Salem Community Foundation Scholarship Fund is itself a combination of 13 principal funds brought together according to the wishes of the donors to assist Salem’s collegiate students including: George Theiss, Paul and Olive Astry, J. G. Smith, Zella Litty, Louise Bunn, the Salem Scholarship Fund, Freda Sweitzer Legacy, R. B. McArtor, C. Harold Musser, Ethel Beall, Anna Thomas, F. R. Mathews, Mary Ellen Pizzino, and the Corso family.
“We encourage students to share information about this scholarship with family and friends. Receiving scholarship dollars from Salem Community Foundation’s named funds is a tremendous opportunity for college students in the Salem area,” said Maniscalco.
Every year, the organization also awards the Ministerial Scholarship, which was made possible by an anonymous donor in 2008 who “recognized the financial impact of a career in the ministry.”This scholarship provides financial assistance to anyone seeking a profession in ministry, Christian education, youth ministry, or a closely connected field that “will be spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
This year’s Ministerial Scholarship recipients include Allegheny Wesleyan College’s Jadon Crouch, Christopher Lefever, Erica Lefever, Benjamin Neville, Katie Reese, Laura Reese, Jonathon Strawn, and Andrew Zvaritch, and Liberty University’s Daniel Forrider.
The annual scholarship program is just one of many community-supporting initiatives conducted by the foundation since its inception as a public charitable trust in 1966. The foundation continues to collaborate with local partners to improve the quality of life for Salem residents through funding a variety of community initiatives, projects, and scholarships.
Individuals and families are encouraged to consider making a difference in the lives of deserving college students by donating to the Scholarship Committee. A scholarship fund, according to the announcement, can be set up to help students of any educational level or even a specific college. Call the Salem Community Foundation office at 330-332-4021 to learn more about the process of establishing a scholarship fund, whether to help a student pursue their education or to honor a loved one.
mahart@mojonews.com
