With the addition of proceeds from the 2013 Annual Golf Outing, Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware County has reached its three-year $1.5 million fund raising goal for the Ted Van Name/Goodwill Scholarship Fund.
The educational scholarship fund assists 40 to 60 people each year in earning a high school diploma or two-year associate degree at Delaware County Community College or Delaware Technical Community College. The fund enables Goodwill team members, their immediate family members or Goodwill program graduates to pursue their educational dreams and improve their lives, according to the organization.
“The idea for a scholarship endowment fund was proposed by former Goodwill CEO Ted Van Name, for whom the fund is named,” said Colleen Morrone, Goodwill’s president & CEO. “Ted led the way to get foundation and corporate support for the fund and also solicited support from our board of directors and other leaders in the community. He also proposed the idea of having the funds raised from our Annual Awards Luncheon and Annual Golf Outing go towards the scholarship fund,” said Morrone.
Goodwill’s CEO said organizations like Bank of America, Chase, the Welfare Foundation and SSD Technology Partners stepped up and offered support for the scholarship fund. She also noted that the family of Goodwill’s late former Board Chairman Ronald Smith made the largest private gift to the fund.
She added that statistics show a person with a high school education is likely to earn an additional $600,000 in their lifetime as compared to someone who has not graduated from high school. Morrone said the difference in lifetime earnings jumps to $1.4 million for a person with an associate degree.
“If we are going to make a difference in the life of an individual, we believe that investing in their educational credentials is a top priority.”
