2013 Summary - mel douglass fund

Scholarships
  • Peter Belechak won the $6,000 Mel Douglass Scholarship for his community service achievements, several of which he created and led.  His volunteering included service at his church, at Central Catholic, and in the community.  Peter is now a freshman at James Madison University in Virginia.
  • T.J. Benedict, Max Brourman, Chris Bush, Anna Evashavick, Elizabeth Rocks, Angela Williams, and Adam Zelenko earned $500 honorable mention scholarships.
  • Chris Bush joined sister Emily (2008) and brother J.J. (2011) as honorable mention winners, making the Bush family the first to earn three scholarships.  Chris is now a freshman at Georgia Tech. 
  • After six years, your contributions have supported 30 Edgewood students (six scholarship winners plus 24 honorable mention winners) who enrolled in 22 colleges and universities located in nine states plus Washington DC.

Contributions
  • 79 contributors, an increase of 16% over 2012, donated to the fund.  Since 2008, 124 individuals or organizations have contributed.  We are proud to celebrate and recognize those who have honored Mel over the years.
  • Contributions to the fund increased 9% over 2012.  Contributions ranged up to $5,000.
  • The annual Mel Douglass Memorial Golf event on August 10 again achieved new highs in players, sponsorships, and fund contributions.  Gregg Bowers and Nick Kefalos deserve tremendous thanks for managing to grow and improve this event every year.
  • Consistent with previous practice, 100% of your contributions were directed to current or future scholarships.  All administrative expenses (tax filings, web design, graphics, postage, etc.) are personally paid by our Board of Directors.

Operations
  • We launched our website: meldouglassfund.org.  We are very excited about this new way to communicate the fund’s mission, history, and activities.  We would love your ideas for ways to enhance the site.  We would also really appreciate any photos of Mel or other items you might like to submit for potential inclusion.  Please direct all comments and submissions to Dallas Frey at [email protected] or by mail at 193 West Hutchinson Avenue, Edgewood PA, 15218.  We will be happy to return all photos and other materials once we have posted them to the website.   
  • As we have in the past, we aligned all activities with one of our long-term objectives: a fund that is self-sustaining in perpetuity to make sure Mel’s tremendous legacy endures and benefits young people in Edgewood.  We again balanced short-term and long-term objectives in 2013:
  • Short-term:  We financially supported the scholarships awarded and met all of our other obligations to operate the fund.
  • Long-term:  We set aside a portion of your contributions to continue building a sustaining fund.  For the sixth straight year, we increased the December 31 balance in the fund.