In the three months following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, people around the United States have donated more than $1 million to the University of Connecticut’s Sandy Hook School Memorial Scholarship Fund honoring the victims.
A $25,000 gift from Mark R. Shenkman, chairman of the UConn Foundation Board of Directors and a UConn alumnus, put the scholarship fund total at $1,010,000, supplementing contributions from more than 5,000 people from across the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.
“Everyone’s generosity is going to help these families move forward with one less thing to worry about. That’s the blessing in this,” says Cathy Ostar, director of school counseling at Newtown High School, who, with other school administrators, has been sharing information about the scholarship fund with students and their families.
The scholarship fund will support the college costs of siblings of those killed in the assault, the dependents of the adults who lost their lives or were physically wounded, as well as students currently enrolled at the elementary school, who are accepted to the University.
The UConn Foundation, the fundraising arm of the University, established the fund Dec. 17 with a lead gift of $80,000 from UConn’s Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma and his wife Kathy. Since then, other gifts, in small amounts and large, have poured in from school children and community groups, from corporations and national organizations.
The Bowl Championship Series made a gift of $80,120, which represented $1 for every fan in attendance at the Jan. 7 BCS National Championship game. The Hartford Financial Services Group contributed $100,000, while UnitedHealthcare donated $10,000.
UConn alumnus Denis McCarthy contributed $25,000 while Margaret Keane, parent of a UConn alumnus, donated a $25,000 Chairman’s award received through her employment at GE.
The Connecticut Education Association is supporting the fund with a fundraising drive expected to raise an additional $1 million.
The UConn Foundation is continuing to accept donations for the Sandy Hook Memorial Scholarship Fund. For more information, visit www.foundation.uconn.edu/sandyhoook.
Library building teen space
The Hartford Public Library has received a $7,500 grant from The Fund for Greater Hartford to help build an innovative, multi-year program for youth who work on computers at the library.
YOUmedia Hartford is a program that will create a digital learning center for teens ages 13 to 19 at the Downtown Library. The program will connect young adults, books, media, and institutions throughout the city in an innovative and 21st-century teen space where students will learn and create media.
The YOUmedia space is based on research by Mizuko Ito at the University of California. Ito’s MacArthur Foundation-funded research found that there are three distinct types of interest-driven activities in which youth engage in physical and online spaces: She identifies them as Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out, abbreviated as HOMAGO. From the relatively relaxed activities of social networking to the higher levels of immersion when youth develop specific artistic and technical skills in project groups, the theory of HOMAGO is that it helps students ‘level up,’ moving in an organic, nonlinear fashion into productive, educational and socially empowering activities.
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In brief
The Hartford Public Library and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art are finalists for the National Medal for Museum and Library Service to be awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The medal is the nation’s highest honor conferred on museums and libraries for service to the community. There are 33 finalists nationally … The Maffe Foundation has designated the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center as the beneficiary for its ninth annual golf event. The “Chip-In for Children Golf Classic” will take place July 17 at Wintonbury Hills Golf Club in Bloomfield. For registration information, visit www.maffefoundation.com to register, or contact Allyson Smith at 860-430-1977 ext. 208. The Maffe Foundation’s mission is to provide children in need of financial and motivational assistance the opportunity and ability to reach their greatest potential … The associates of Marriott Hartford Downtown raised $3,000 for The Connecticut Children’s Medical Center Foundation through payroll deduction and a matching contribution from Waterford Group Charitable Foundation. The check was presented at Marriott Hartford Downtown’s annual awards gala … The Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage office in Avon has donated $1,000 to the Avon Emergency Fuel Bank. The donation was made through the Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Cares Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Connecticut and Westchester County, N.Y. … Employees at the state Department of Revenue Services offices raised $2,025 for the American Cancer Society distributed daffodils to co-workers. “The annual arrival of the daffodils comes just in time to DRS,” said Commissioner Kevin B. Sullivan. “Not only do they raise spirits by providing a glimpse of the glorious spring to come, but knowing that our employees raised $2,000 for the Cancer Society is truly heartwarming.” … The Avon-based Cornelia de Lange Syndrome Foundation will induct 40 leaders and volunteers from around the country into its first annual de Lange Society. The group will be honored at a luncheon April 6 at Belle Terrace. The foundation was started in 1981… The American Liver Foundation, Connecticut Division, will hold a golf tournament July 17 at Tradition Golf Club in Wallingord in memory of Dr. David Hull, director of Hartford Hospital’s Clinical Transplantation Department. Dr. Hull died in February.
