The Brewster Education Foundation last week announced they would not be able to fund this years scholarships to graduating seniors at Brewster High School. One foundation member said the lack of funds was due to losses in the recent stock market drop. In response the parents, students and community have responded with an unprecedented amount of emotional and financial support for the students and the Foundation.
One board member Joe Cavanagh, in Facebook posts the last few days has been keeping the community informed about fundraising efforts and as of last night the Foundation has received over $17,000 and are just over halfway to towards their goal of raising $32,000 to fully fund all the Scholarships they would normally award. To that end the Trustees are making an appeal to the community for donations. Earlier today they released the followoing letter to the Brewster Central School District residents and the community at large.The trustees of The Brewster Education Foundation hope that you and your family are safe and healthy during this COVID-19 pandemic. We are reaching out to the entire BCSD community to Rise Up in this time of need to help as provide the Class of 2020 with the scholarship dollars that we typically provide each of our graduating classes.
"We the trustees of The Brewster Education Foundation hope that you and your family are safe and healthy during this COVID-19 pandemic. We are reaching out to the entire BCSD community to Rise Up in this time of need to help as provide the Class of 2020 with the scholarship dollars that we typically provide each of our graduating classes. For thirty-six years, the Brewster Education Foundation has supplied dose to $2 million in grants to our schools and scholarships to our graduating students.
For the BEF to fully fund our scholarships, such as the Seven Year Scholarships ($20,000), Valedictorian, Salutatorian, Honor Society, BEF Challenge ($3,000), and subsidize the many endowed scholarships that we manage ($7,000), we need to raise $30,000 by June 1s'. The good news is that as of Monday, May 11th, due to Brewster's Got Talent proceeds ($5,600), significant gifts from the BEF Trustees, and the generous gifts of many of our community members, we have raised over $15,000 for our 2020 BEF Rise Up Campaign. Please help as to fully fund the scholarships mentioned above and subsidize our endowed scholarships. If you planned on attending our Spring Gala, please consider donating the $75 (or more) that you would have spent to attend.
If you have the means, please consider a larger amount. You can Rise Up for our students by going to www.bef.org to make your tax deductible donation. You can also send a check to the Brewster Education Foundation, P.O. Box 320, Brewster, NY 10509. Thank you to our supporters that have chosen to Rise Up so far! Sincerely, Brewster Education Foundation (Greg Austin, Sarah Barnes, Erik Brillon, Joe Cavanagh, Judy Cleary, Meryl DiDio, Melissa Stahl Downey, Chris Feehan dennifer Galluzzo, Erik Grutzner, Ann Marie Kovaleski, Alberta Kozma, Monica Lorca, Jennifer Leighton, Lisa McPartland, Sonia Mesika, Diane O'Brien, Pete Pastore and Donna Schneider)"