Dollars For Scholars

Please check out our new website. The address is: normancoeast.dollarsforscholars.org

 

 

There are still All-School Reunion Cookbooks for sale. There are over 600 delicious recipes in the book. All this for only $15.00!! Proceeds provide scholarships for graduating seniors from NCE.

 

 

What is Dollars for Scholars?

The Norman County East Dollars for Scholars organization is a tax-exempt, volunteer-operated, community scholarship foundation.  It was started in Twin Valley in 1989 and became Norman County East Dollars for Scholars in 1999.  Dollars for Scholars was organized by a group of citizens whose mission was to help local students with the rising costs of attending post-secondary education.  The local governing board members and community volunteers set the foundation’s policies and plans and implement the raising and awarding of scholarships to local students. Individuals can help out the local Dollars for Scholars organization by donating small gifts - $1, $5, $10, or more – which are combined to create more scholarships. 

 

Another way to help out the local Dollars for Scholars is with a tax-exempt foundation. Consider a memorial or an honorary membership for a relative or friend.  Dollars for Scholars chapters may receive large contributions from wills, trust, insurance, and gifts of property, tax-exempt, which is put into the foundation.  The money put into the foundation is left in the bank and only the interest is used each year to provide scholarships.  By becoming a member of the foundation, the individual or group will receive special recognition by having their name placed on a large plaque. The plaque is placed in area businesses.  Currently, the Norman County East Dollars for Scholars Foundation totals about $130,000.  In the past 10 years, over $100,000 in scholarships have been given out to Norman County East students. The local Dollars for Scholars organization is affiliated with Citizens’ Scholarship Foundation of America (CSFA), which is headquartered in St. Peter, Minnesota.  A $100 annual fee maintains affiliation with CSFA.  There is no other financial obligation to CSFA, which allows all the money raised to stay in the community for scholarships.  By virtue of affiliation, chapters receive a number of important services:

  1. Automatic 501(c) (3) status, making contributions tax-deductible.
  2. Guides for operation of the chapter.
  3. Access to CSFA’s professional staff, which provides constant sources of new ideas for chapter operation.
  4. Community-service volunteer awards.
  5. Collegiate Matching Grants: an increasing number of colleges and schools match Dollars for Scholars awards brought to their campuses.

Every spring, seniors who plan on attending post-secondary training, fill out one application which makes them eligible for the Dollars for Scholars Scholarships. Last year by filling out that one application, the seniors were eligible for 35 scholarships, which are provided by Dollars for Scholars and other local individuals and organizations.  The following scholarships are available through the application: Education Minnesota, Twin Valley Times, and Gene Lysaker Fine Arts Scholarship, Richard Haberer Business Scholarship, Joe Merhiy Memorial Scholarship, Eleanor Jeske Scholarship, Noreen Johnson Memorial Scholarship, Myrtle Hanson Memorial Education Scholarship, Ila Spielman Memorial Music Scholarship, Harry Bain Memorial Scholarship, Allan Matson Memorial Scholarship, Twin Valley Lions Scholarships, Mary Swenson Memorial Scholarship, Edgar & Margaret Houglum Memorial Scholarship and many others.  Some of the scholarships have stipulations, such as the student must be furthering their education in agriculture, or fine arts, or education, etc. When all applications are handed in, the local scholarship selection committee, which is made up of community members from the area, get together to score the scholarship applications.  The names are taken off the applications and members go through and score the applications for amount of employment, scholastic standing, community involvement, school involvement and appraisal by an individual the student chooses.  Points are tallied and scholarships are awarded according to the point totals. The scholarships are presented at a special “Senior Awards Night.”  Every year this is held on the Thursday before graduation.  Seniors and their parents, along with many of the people giving out the scholarships, attend a banquet.  After the meal, all the scholarships are presented. By joining the NCE Dollars for Scholars Foundation or making a donation to the organization you become part of a worthwhile and distinctive group that will play a vital role in helping graduates of Norman County East High School become better, more productive citizens.  They in turn should become members to continue the growth of the club.