Record Dollar Amount Of SAF Scholarships
Sonora, CA — The Sonora Area Foundation called students the real winners as more scholarship money has been awarded this year than ever before.
Foundation Executive Director Darrell Slocum enthusiastically exclaims, “Well, I’m just totally excited about it. To me it’s indicative of the way the community comes together to support education and our young people. The numbers are phenomenal and our young people are going to benefit from it. So, it’s a classic win, win.”
The foundation details that a total of $371,000 in scholarships were awarded in 2017 with 170 going to 125 Tuolumne County students, breaking last year’s record. Slocum notes, “The increase was over $100,000 from last year’s record, which was $266,000. A big part of it is one donor, which is local technology company Front Porch…They substantially increased both the number of scholarships they gave out and they also increased the size of many of their scholarships. So, that was a big chunk of the increase.”
The foundation is already seeing new funds coming in for next year with the addition of the Restivo Music Scholarship, in memory of long time area music teacher Rick Restivo who died in April, as reported here. Additionally, it will be the first year of awards being handed out by HealthLitNow through its Healthcare Career Scholarship Fund. Slocum cheerfully projects, “Maybe we’ll have another record year in 2018.”
