Inna Shames
The Women of Quail Creek (TWOQC) Scholarship Committee wants to extend a huge and incredibly grateful thank you to all of the wonderful people who helped us reach our matching funds goal!
How did this come about? Well, it’s a great story:
Last year, the TWOQC Scholarship Committee was approached by an amazingly generous group of donors with a fabulous idea: They offered $40,100 to be used as 2 to 1 matching funds for TWOQC scholarships. What did that actually mean? It meant that for every dollar received from other donors, this group would match it 2 to 1.
Effective mid-February, we successfully collected just over $20,000 from hundreds of donors, large and small. So, the end result is that more than $60,000 has been added to the Scholarship Fund.
Over the years, the TWOQC Scholarship Fund has grown by leaps and bounds:
• In 2016 the first two scholarships were awarded to young women graduating from Walden Grove High School and Sahuarita High School.
• In 2017 a second category of scholarship recipients was added: Women in Transition, or WIT for short. These were women older than 21 years whose schooling was interrupted after graduating high school and who now wanted to continue their education. That year the first WIT scholarship was awarded.
• In 2021 TWOQC became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization to more effectively fulfill our mission as “… a Community of Women Dedicated to Learning, Giving, and Engaging.”
This mission continues to be the driving force behind the organization’s endeavors, and the Scholarship Fund is a perfect example. Since 2016, when $2,000 was awarded in scholarships, to 2023 when we awarded a total of $50,500, the growth of donations and, therefore, awards has increased annually, particularly in the last two years. This year, with the help of the Matching Funds campaign, we anticipate awarding an even larger amount.
If you want to see what it’s all about and meet our 2024 recipients, be sure to mark your calendar for the Scholarship Awards Presentation Program on May 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the Madera Clubhouse.
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, you may contact Deb Melton, TWOQC director of scholarships, at [email protected] or visit womenqc.com/scholarship-information.