Tri Star partners with couple to form scholarship
A new scholarship is being created in conjunction with Tri Star Career Compact and local couple, Rod and Barb Carpenter.
This project is the brain child of Rod and Barb, who have officially called it Marathon IX: Tri Star Eternal Scholarships.
The scholarship is a work in progress that the couple hopes will be implemented at the end of the school year as long as certain plans come to pass. The scholarships will be given to Tri Star students that work their hardest in their respective fields.
What makes this scholarship so special in comparison to others is that there it will only get better as time goes on. Due to how it’s set up, the payoff for each year is slated to be bigger than the last.
“We are hoping to have a goal of $100,000 to be put into this,” said Rod. “This is going to be the gift that keeps on giving. We are allowed to give out 3.5 percent for scholarships, and they’ve been averaging about 6-6.5 percent on the money, so that principle will continue to grow over the years.”
As long as things go according to plan, this year should lead to $3,500 being sent out to various students in the area.
If the amount of money only continues to increase, that number should steadily rise as each year goes on.
The couple has done plenty of other benefits as well, with this being their ninth God-driven benefit. Having raised about $236,689.24 to date, they believe it should be easy enough to raise the money for the fund itself.
“It’s all God, to be honest with you,” Rod said when asked where
the idea for this event came from. “We just woke up one morning, and the idea was just kids, need to help kids some way.”
This fund is being done in conjunction with Rod planning on running the Kiawah Island Marathon in
South Carolina on Dec. 11 and the Grand Lake Half Marathon on Sept. 25. A regular marathon runner, he plans on carrying an American flag in both races, with the first dedicated to a local fallen veteran, while the other is dedicated to fallen police officer Kelley Richards of Celina.
The couple plans on having a list of businesses that donated to the event be sent to every recipient of the scholarship.
“Not only will it honor the people who decided to help with the scholarship itself, but hopefully instill a feeling of gratitude in the recipients.
“And that’s what list of the donors is supposed to convey to the kids that get the scholarship,” said Barb. They hope that the list will make sure they put their skills back into the community that helped them.
“This is a great area, you should consider staying here.”
There are three ways that people can help donate to the fund.
Some can make a check out to the Mercer County Civic Foundation and send it to them at 2315 Eaglebrooke Circle.
If people prefer to donate online, they can PayPal them at PayPal.me/boston2639, or through Venmo at Venmo.com/Rod-Carpenter-4.
For the first $40,000 raised, the Carpenter’s will do a 10% match. For updates on the situation, feel free to visit their Facebook page at bit.ly/3yHkEdz.