Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Benton County will celebrate another year of scholarship recipients and their accomplishments at its annual benefit dinner Thursday evening at the John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers.
The nonprofit organization, founded in 1984, provides support in a variety of forms for single parents who are seeking college degrees. Recipients may turn to SPSF for assistance with tuition, books, rent, emergency expenses, career development, professional and personal counseling or tutoring.
Benefit dinner
What: Student speaker, student awards
When: 5:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers
Attire: Business
Information: (479) 254-8550
The group does not receive any government money, but is instead supported by individual, foundation and corporate support. Backers include the Walton Family Foundation, Walmart Foundation, United Way, CornerStone Healthcare and Greenwood Gearhart.
The benefit dinner will feature Erika Adalma, a scholarship recipient, as the program speaker. Aldama is a sophomore at the University of Arkansas Walton College of Business. Her 7-year-old son, Silas, will join her on the stage for the address.
She works for Walmart, at the home office, and said her long-term goal is to be a buyer, which requires a minimum of a bachelor's degree. Three things contributed to her decision to return to school to earn a degree: "career advancement, as an example to my son that it's never too late to start something you want and the value of education," she said.
Recipients currently attend the University of Arkansas, Northwest Arkansas Community College, Northwest Technical Institute in Springdale, John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Crowder College in Neosho, Mo., and other institutions. According to the group's website, some 85 percent of the scholarship recipients are able to find jobs above the poverty level within six months of graduation.
-- CARIN SCHOPPMEYER
NAN Our Town on 08/11/2016