GCCC Scholarship Recipients Meet Donors

White Plains NY-  Grace Church Community Center (GCCC) scholarship recipients had an opportunity to meet some of the key donors that made their scholarships possible at a lunch held in their honor at the Black Bear Saloon on January 13th. 

Each year, GCCC awards 8-10 scholarships to students from its After-School Mentoring Program for homeless and disadvantaged students.  Scholarships range from $500-$4,000 and are awarded to first generation college attendees to assist them with the cost of books and tuition.   Recipients receive their scholarships in two parts, the first for their fall semester and the second for their spring semester.

In 2011-2012, eight scholarships were awarded to Eshondra McLendon, Bryan Amaya, Denilette Jimenez , Maria Elena Perez, Tasha Escobar, Donald Tomlinson, Laura Paula and Adriana Marte.  Four of the recipients attended the lunch.  Also present were Bill Doty of Rye and Joan Schechtman of White Plains, major supporters of the GCCC Scholarship Fund.

The students at the lunch had a wide range of academic and career interests.  Eshondra hopes to become a lawyer, Bryan dreams of a career in government, Maria Elena is studying to be a physiotherapist and Denilette hopes to become an early childhood education teacher.

The Scholarship Fund was started in 2004 when GCCC realized that many Mentoring students who had enrolled in college were being forced to drop out due to financial hardships.   Eileen Torres, GCCC Director of Youth Programs said, "We worked so hard to keep these kids in school, get their grades up and encourage them to enroll in college.  To see them drop out was heartbreaking.  They all said they would work for a few years and then go back to college but none ever did.  We knew we had to do something to help them out."

For the past four years, the Scholarship Fund has been assisted by a major donor who will match up to $25,000 in donations raised by the agency. Paul Anderson-Winchell, GCCC Executive Director said, "We'd like to be able to give out more scholarships but unfortunately we've never been able to raise the full match so we give scholarships to the kids who need it most."  In 2011/2012, scholarship awards totaled $26,000.

Anyone wishing to make a donation or find out more about the GCCC Scholarship Fund or Mentoring Program can contact Chris Schwartz at 914-949-3098 ext. 135 or CSchwartz@gracecommunitycenter.org.