NIGHT OF HOPE

Sincere appreciation

Success stories are inspiring for scholarship fund donors and recipients

"I come for the stories," said one patron at the Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Central Arkansas' Night of Hope, and it's true.

True that the women -- and men -- who come through the nonprofit on their way to college degrees almost universally have heartrending stories. It's also true, says executive director Karin Bara, that when colleges get a scholarship fund student, "they get a graduate." Such is the determination -- and camaraderie -- of the scholarship fund and the kinds of students it attracts.

The scholarship fund held its annual Night of Hope fundraiser Oct. 8 at the Governor's Mansion.

As usual, the night was a casual affair. Folks mingled with glasses of wine and canapes. There's no dinner, and the program's brief. This year the charity gave the podium over to Martiyha Simmons.

The biology major at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock -- who has a 3.6 grade-point average -- delivered an emotional testimony on behalf of the student beneficiaries.

Simmons said she aims to go on to pediatric dentistry while raising her 3-year-old daughter, Kaydin. Although she has received scholarships as well from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the UALR Bookstore, the money she has received from the scholarship fund, "if I didn't have that, I probably would have had to drop out of school and find a part-time job somewhere and try to survive, but I was able to get my own apartment ..." she said, as she fought back tears.

She concluded, "I just want to thank everyone for being here, and supporting me, supporting my goals, supporting my future and my daughter's future, and everyone like me. SPSF, they support me morally, emotionally and financially. I'm thankful for the person I'm becoming. I'm loving it."

Some of the fund's most generous donors are Marge and Tom Schueck and the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation -- so-called Chancellor's List donors.

Beverly and Gary Darwin, Dora Jane and Greg Flesher, Carol and Witt Stephens, and Mary and Jim Wohlleb compose the Vice Chancellor's list. Linda and Steve Humphries were named to the Provost's List, along with Carol and Allan Mendel and Elizabeth Waldron.

-- Photos and story by Bobby Ampezzan

High Profile on 10/19/2014

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