THURSDAY CLUB RAISES $100,000 FOR WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS 

The Thursday Club has presented Westchester Community College Foundation with a check for $100,000, raised through a benefit dinner-dance at Trump National Golf Club in April. The contribution will be used for a special scholarship program for low-income mothers of young children and for related costs including books and fees. Recipients of the Thursday Club scholarships will also receive counseling and high-quality childcare in an on-campus center.

“We are delighted to support this worthwhile cause in a significant way, and are grateful to the many individual donors who made it possible,” says Barbara Bush, president of The Thursday Club, a group of women devoted to community service. Since its founding in 1921, the Thursday Club has raised more than $1 million for charitable groups.

Mary Beth Merryman and Suzanne Poulin, both of Irvington, served as co-chairs of the event. In recent years, Thursday Club beneficiaries included the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Westchester, Phelps Hospital and the Irvington Historical Society.

The Foundation awards approximately 850 scholarships annually but must turn away an equal number of qualified applicants due to lack of funds. “This program will serve a group of women who face enormous challenges in acquiring an education while raising young children,” said Shirley Phillips, Westchester Community College’s vice president for external affairs and executive director of the Westchester Community College Foundation.

The college was founded in 1946 as a technical school for returning veterans and joined the State University of New York system in 1948. Enrollment at the two-year institution totals about 24,000 students of all ages. Students who qualify for financial aid have an average household income of less than $22,000 and many are the first in their families to attend college.

 
Dr. Joseph Hankin (Westchester Community College President), Dr. Carole Hankin, Erin Murphy (event speaker), Shirley A. Phillips (Westchester Community College Foundation Executive Director). Left to right.