Paying for college can be a rough ride. But Concord High School did a unique fundraiser Thursday night, that helped seniors raise their own scholarship money.
They held a pledge a thon and called members of the community asking for donations to fund their scholarships. It's all part of dollars for scholars and the goal is to raise enough money to give each eligible senior at least a $500 scholarship for their first year in college. About 90 seniors are eligible to receive the money and are participating in the pledge a thons. Thursday night's pledge a thon was the second of three. The last one will be held Monday March 11th.
The students spend about two hours making phone calls to hundreds of people asking for donations of any size. Senior Allison Scales said, Some of 'em I got 10 dollars and just a little bit of money will help. That's all we need."
Scales and all her peers participating said they need the money for college. "Receiving the scholarship will help me focus on school more, rather than worrying about raising money," said Senior Antonio Dozan. And Dollars for Scholars Board Member Mike Auger said, "That $500 sometimes will make the difference between whether they go on to college or not."
All the phones and laptops for the program come from the school. Dollars for Scholars is a nationwide program that is part of Scholarship America. Dollars for Scholars started in the Elkhart area in the 1980's and since then they have given away close to 1 million dollars in scholarships.
