Making a Difference

Scholarships can change lives. Just ask Dick Harp, our OLLI director. He shares some personal experiences of witnessing lives being empowered and reinvented — and their success is contagious.

It’s Never Too Late
A few months ago, I had two pleasant experiences within a few days of each other. The first was a graduation for students who had taken a welding class at the local college. The second was a graduation of sorts for people who had taken a course in bridge playing. Both involved individuals over 50 years of age. The first involved a man who had dropped out of school when he was young. The second involved a woman who was widowed shortly after she moved to our area. The man held many short-lived jobs which paid minimum wage or slightly above. The woman had not yet made any friends when her husband was killed in a freak accident. Both wanted to take classes to improve their lives but were financially unable to pay the fees attached to their respective classes.

Changing Lives
Over a year ago, a fellow parishioner asked me to join a group of individuals who wanted to help people take classes to better their lives. After several meetings, and with the help of two attorneys in our group, we established a 501(c)(3) endowment fund which could be used to help people such as the two previously mentioned. The donations are tax deductible. The response from our citizens was gratifying and we began to receive donations. The two aforementioned graduates were the recipients of scholarships made possible due to the fund. The male is now employed as a welder by a ship building company in Mobile, Alabama. The woman is now playing bridge three times a week. We helped change their lives for the better!

Preparing the Way
A few years ago, an endowment fund was created at KSU to provide scholarships for those who could not afford classes. The fund was named in honor of Barbara S. Calhoun, dean of our KSU College of Continuing and Professional Education, in recognition of the her guidance in making CCPE one of the best, if not the best, continuing education programs in the country. OLLI is housed within CCPE. I am asking you to consider making a donation to this endowment fund to help individuals take advantage of our classes in an effort to help improve their lives. No donation is too small and all are tax deductible.

If you choose to join our journey in changing lives, make your check payable to:

Kennesaw State University Foundation
Please indicate your donation is for the “Barbara S. Calhoun Endowment Fund.” Your generous donation can be mailed to:

Sandra Cobb
Kennesaw State University
3333 Busbee Drive MD3301
Kennesaw, Georgia 30144

The scholarships are confidential and recipients will not be known. Thank you for your consideration.

Hope to see you in class soon.