Scholarship Fund
The National MS Society, Greater North Jersey Chapter
Meryl Ravitz
1 year grant, $10,000
The mission of the National MS Society is to support research for a cure as well as support individuals with MS and their families. The scholarship fund supports individuals with MS and their families.
As a chapter of NMSS, we support their goals and objectives. One of the goals of our chapter is to provide support for people with MS and their families. While we do this in many ways, we do not have the resources to internally fund the scholarship program, and therefore have looked to outside donors.
The program provides assistance to students attending college. The students are either MS clients or their families. The funds are distributed based upon a variety of factors, with special circumstances (single parent, multiple illnesses, etc) receiving the greatest consideration for funding. In 2008 fifty nine students were awarded $60,000 in scholarship Money. Twenty-five percent of our students have a total family income of less than $25,000.
Scholarship funds are awarded on a needs based model for food, housing, books, computers, transportation and classes.
Examples of our scholars are:
- a child with a single mom, who had MS and cancer. The pair lived in a studio apartment and had very little money. With his scholarship this student was able to get to college and purchase a computer
- an only child with two parents who suffered from multiple illnesses, studied to be a paralegal in the mornings, and then worked each afternoon and evening. At mid-day she cared for her parents. Our scholarship covered her tuition at a community college. This young woman was so grateful for our help that she volunteered at several MS Society events.
- A young man whose parents died within the past three years has a sister who is fighting in Iraq. He has no home and lives with friends when school is not in session. Our scholarship paid for his books.
- A student whose parents could not afford to contribute toward any of her education expenses worked four jobs to earn enough money to go to college. Our scholarship supported her to the extent that she was able to work 100 hours less during that school year.
The need is great for these students. In many cases, MS means that only one parent can work and whatever extra income is generated is consumed by the needs of the affected parent. Many of the students we help want to go on to careers in health advocacy work or to fight MS. They are committed to their education and deserve whatever assistance we can provide.