Thanks to the proceeds from the 2013 Annual Golf Outing, Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware County (Wilmington) has reached its three-year $1.5 million fundraising goal for the Ted Van Name/Goodwill Scholarship Fund.
The educational scholarship fund assists 40 to 60 people each year with an opportunity to earn 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.
“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, the Goodwill’s president and 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 toward 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.
“To date, we have provided funding to support 321 Goodwill team members and members of their families in pursuing their educational goals,” said Morrone. “We’ve had 81 people complete their GED, nine others who have completed skills training certifications and have had two participants complete an associate degree. We will have two more scholarship participants graduate with a two-year degree in December,” noted Morrone.
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.”
