Dollars for Scholars passes $1M after 18years
When Lake Worth Dollars for S c hol a r s Foundation awards $104,000 in scholarships to 53 Lake Worth High School students this week, it will put the nonprofit over the $1 million mark in scholarships handed out since the foundation was started 18 years ago. “It’s a great, great feeling,” said David Cantley, the foundation’s co-founder and L a k e W o r t h H i g h p r i n c i - pa l f o r n e a r l y t w o d e c a d e s before retiring i n 1 9 9 9. “We never dreamed we would reach this point. We’ve reached a lot of lives and helped a lot of kids go to college who were the first in their family to graduate high school.”
The city’s Dollars for Scholars chapter, scheduled to hold its free award event Thursday at the high school at 7 p.m., is part of Scholarship America, a national scholarship and educational support organization.
The foundation has several patrons, including GL Homes of Florida, The Morganti Group, Wayne Akers Ford and Dave’s Last Resort and Raw Bar, according to the group’s website.
The group also operates The Barry Grunow Memorial Scholarship for aspiring teachers, named after the high school teacher who was gunned down in 2000 outside his classroom by then-13year-old student Nathaniel Brazill.
Cantley attributes this year’s record amount of scholarships and passing the $1 million mark to several local groups — The Women’s Club, Kiwanis Club and the Rotary Club — stepping up and donating.
“Our alumni and the business community have supported us very well,” said Cantley, 78. “The business community is not what it was in the ’50s and ’60s, but we managed to get our fair amount of support from civic clubs.”
L ast August, the Cit y Commission made a one-time-only $25,000 donation.
“It’s wise to invest in our children,” Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell said last year. “They can come back and serve the community and help us carry on the work in the future.”
There was some concern, however, that the donation had the potential to open the floodgates for other groups.
“Do we need to protect ourselves in any way?” Mayor Pam Triolo wondered when the donation was made.
City Attorney Glen Torcivia said the city could come up with some sort of protocol on how donations can work in the future.
The scholarships that will be awarded Thursday range from $1,000 to $5,000, Cantley said.
“We don’t give scholarships to students whose both parents work or have a good income,” he said. “It has to go where we can get the biggest bang for our buck.”