Community Foundation Presents College Scholarships

The Community Foundation of Volusia & Flagler recently presented college scholarships to seven seniors graduating from area high schools, courtesy of the foundation’s Sarah T. Fillingame Trust and its Scholarship Committee.  Co-chaired by foundation board members, Ali Kargar (ICI Homes) and Anand Jobalia (Venetian Bay Properties), this committee administers education trusts created by local philanthropists who have a specific interest in helping qualified students in need of financial assistance.

Profile of a Young Role Model
One of the several award recipients, Tia McDonald of Edgewater, typifies the good citizenship of the Fillingame honorees selected this year.  Since her days as a very young student in elementary school, Tia has been an energetic volunteer in her community.  She has raised tens of thousands of dollars for various charities, mainly focusing on children with special needs.  Her inspiration for her life-long commitment to serving others may very well be the many challenges she has faced in her own personal family life.

Among many hardships, Tia has courageously overcome the loss of their home to fire 10 years ago, the death of her brother at the age of 19, and the loss of her father to Leukemia.  Choosing to help those less fortunate, Tia nevertheless found time and motivation in her school career to single-handedly spearhead a project to purchase a van with a wheelchair lift for a child seriously hurt in a car accident.  She founded a cheerleading squad for the Police Athletic League, and also founded the Shining Stars Pageant for special needs children.  Her fundraising endeavors have benefited the homeless, the hungry, the families of fallen soldiers who served in Iraq, and many other initiatives that demonstrate Tia’s enormous capacity for faith, compassion, and leadership.

In The News: EDGE

From the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Local’s vision: Endowment for United Way

By ANNE GEGGIS, Staff Writer                                                                                                   April 11, 2011

A retired DeLand auto dealer has a dream — a $10 million dream — that the local United Way one day will be able to say every penny contributed goes directly to support services that nurture children and improve lives.

Ten million dollars is what it would take to create an endowment to generate enough in interest to pay all the administrative costs of the United Way of Volusia and Flagler Counties. It’s a gift that Ed Lacey of DeLand argues would keep giving in perpetuity.

“We are looking for people who want to make legacy-type gifts that will continue to make a difference after they pass away,” said Lacey, who started on his goal last year.

So far, the effort has raised $300,000. In the coming quarter, the group is going to launch a fundraising website.

“I truly think we can get this done,” Lacey said.

The overall drop in employment in the Volusia/Flagler area means fewer employees filling out those annual campaign pledge forms, according to Ray Salazar, president of the United Way of Volusia and Flagler counties.

The amount raised by the annual campaign has dropped in recent years so that the United Way’s fixed administrative costs consume a greater percentage of campaign fund-raising. This year, 16 percent of the campaign funds have gone to administrative costs, or about $400,000 of the $2.7 million raised, up from 12 percent in administrative costs a few years ago.