2025 Annual Report – Mel Douglass Fund

Scholarships
  • We awarded two Mel Douglass Scholarships.  The winners were Michael McCarroll, now at the University of Maryland, and Linden Wallace, now at the University of Pittsburgh.  The day we presented the scholarships we were surprised to learn that Michael and Linden are first cousins!
  • Eleven other high school seniors from Edgewood earned honorable mention scholarships: Michael Caruso, Vivian DiMenno, Lillian Divelbiss, Nora Faraci, Grace Hall, Olivia Hutcherson, Miah Kodman, Greer Langmead, Lucy Mihalcin, Eva Ruth Scandrett, and Johah Suffoletto.  
  • Over the fund’s 18-year history, you have sponsored scholarships to 114 Edgewood students (22 Mel Douglass Scholarship winners plus 92 honorable mention winners) who enrolled in 59 colleges and universities located in 20 states plus Washington DC.  Our winners delivered a combined total of over 50,800 hours of volunteer community service…all before graduating from high school!     

Contributions
  • 129 of you donated to the fund, generating the most contributions we have ever received in a year.  This sizable boost enabled us to achieve our 18th consecutive year of financial success.      
  • Over 250 individuals, families, and organizations have contributed to the Fund since our inception in 2008.  We are extremely proud to recognize and celebrate all who have honored Mel with donations.   All of our donors and scholarship winners since our start in 2008 are displayed on our website (meldouglassfund.org).
  • The Mel Douglass golf event on August 9th drew 116 players and was another extremely successful fundraiser.  Our Board member Gregg Bowers and Nick Kefalos and their team always deserve huge thanks for their tremendous leadership of this event.  Our 2026 golf event will take place on August 8th at Manor Valley Golf Course.  Also, our Board of Directors would like to thank you in person by again hosting our annual Donor Appreciation Party the night before at Grand View Golf Club.  Please save those two dates and plan to make it a weekend…more details to follow!
  • As always, 100% of your contributions were dedicated to current or future scholarships.  All administrative expenses required to operate the fund are personally paid by our Board members.  These expenses include our annual Donor Appreciation Party, tax filings, student and donor communications, website design and updates, graphics, printing, and postage.

​Operations
  • We again hosted our Donor Appreciation Party.  The August 8th event at Grand View Golf Club was attended by approximately 70 donors and scholarship winners.  Thank you to our Board member Sarah Bartlebaugh for leading the planning and implementation of this event.
  • As mentioned in the cover letter, we emailed our first newsletter in October.  If you did not see this newsletter, we may not have your current email address.  If you would like to join our email list, please contact Jen Morris at [email protected].  Thank you!  
  • We continued a process we started in 2024 by honoring donors who enjoyed a strong connection with Mel.  In 2025 we were delighted to celebrate Nick Kefalos and Rick Indovina.  Nick and Rick were lifelong friends of Mel who have supported the Fund in numerous ways over the years.  Congratulations again, Nick and Rick, and thank you!!  We plan to continue to recognize “Honored Donors” each summer at our Donor Appreciation Party.    
  • As always, we aligned our activities to nurture an endowment that is self-sustaining in perpetuity to make sure Mel’s legacy endures and continues to fund scholarships to young people in Edgewood for generations.  Once again, we balanced short-term and long-term financial objectives:
    • Short-term: We financially supported all of the scholarships awarded and met all of our other financial, legal, and administrative obligations to operate the fund.
    • Long-term: We set aside a portion of your contributions to sustain our endowment.  Thanks to you, our endowment remains healthy.