Page 8 - Clinton Currents Winter 2020

Page 8 Winter 2020
Friends of the Clinton Twp. Senior Center College Scholarship Fund Seniors helping Seniors
Most people agree, the name of the fundraising program that assists Clinton Township students is a lengthy one and doesn’t lend itself to a catchy acronym either, but to Senior Center Program Coordinator Debbie Travis, the name best re ects those who support the fund.
“The Friends of the Clinton Township Senior Center College Scholarship Fund is supported by more people than those from the Senior Center or its members,” said Travis. “It’s important for people to know that other en es lend support.”
One o ered a $5,000 contribu on from a trust fund, which, according to Travis, can help spark larger dona ons in the future.
achievers, the ones who sacri ce so much to earn scholarships, o en miss out on some of the fun ac vi es that are out there because they’re studying so hard,” said Travis. “One great thing about our scholarship is that the cash award goes directly into the hands of the kids, where many other scholarships go directly to the school the student is a ending and are applied to their tui on bill. That’s ne, but we love to be able to give the cash in hand for them to be able to do whatever they want with it,” she said.
None of the scholarship funds are used to pay for overhead or administra on fees and are tax-deduc ble as a charitable dona on.
Travis says she solicits dona ons to the fund at every event and party held at the Senior Center beginning with the Christmas party in December. Another donor drive announcement is made at the annual St. Patrick’s event held in March. Also, awareness ads are placed in the Senior Adult Life Center quarterly newsle er. At the Christmasparty,a endeescanhavetheirnameaddedto paper snow ake decora ons that hang from the ceiling for contribu ons as low as a dollar. Donors who give more than $20 are recognized in the newsle er. Those who give $100 or more are invited to join the panel to judgetheapplicants.
“Our judges bring their own values in selec ng the scholarship recipients,” said Travis. “The panel meets to go over the applica ons, and I give them some basic
Senior Center Program Coordinator Debbie Travis, with Chippewa Valley High School seniors Elizabeth Lee and Ma hew Miller.
Now in its sixth year, the program to raise funds to award scholarships to Clinton Township High School Seniors was established in 2015 in the spirit of “paying it forward” with the mindset of “it takes a village to raise a child.”
Like the program name, the e ort to raise funds is a lengthy process, and Travis handles all the details. From donor solicita on beginning in December to awarding and recognizing the winners, which takes place at a televised Board mee ng in late May.
“Our goal, in the beginning, was to give a thousand dollars,andthat’swhatwewereabletoa aininour rst year, plus a li le extra,” said Travis. “Things took o in our second year, and since then, we’ve been able to award two $1,000 scholarships annually.”
In 2019, winners of the “Friends” scholarships were Chippewa Valley High School seniors Elizabeth Lee and Ma hew Miller.
“When you think about it, students who are high