This year, several communities throughout San Diego County have come together to raise money for deserving students to go to college.
To accomplish the goal, community members are being invited to the fourth annual Walk For Education, Saturday, Nov. 3, with registration starting at 9 a.m. at the University of California, San Diego.
That day, about 500 students and volunteers from 17 San Diego County Dollars for Scholars chapters, including Ocean Beach and Torrey Pines chapters, will participate in the 5K walk to raise money for students hoping to continue their higher education.
Those who donate $25 or more at the event receive a commemorative shirt.
Judy Lewis Logue, director of financial aid at UCSD, said the AVID San Diego County Chapter has already raised $158,000 this year.
“Students often borrow more money than we would like them to,” she said. “It’s a good experience to help them apply and receive [scholarships].”
Aside from helping send students to college, Logue said the walk is an example of how grassroots community organizations can help raise money for students in their own community.
Ocean Beach Dollars for Scholars president Katie Whalen-Elsbree said the Ocean Beach chapter has raised more than $20,000 in scholarship donations from local businesses this year, including $3,000 from the Point Loma Realtors Association.
The Ocean Beach Dollars for Scholars also works with donors who often match individual scholarships for a student who qualifies, she said.
The board of directors of the local chapter decides the qualifications for recipients, she said.
Each community decides on the types of students to receive the money. One award, for example, goes to students who have “aged out” of the foster-care system, she said.
“[The program] is growing every year, and we hope to double it every year,” she said.
Whalen-Elsbree is a founding member of the Ocean Beach Dollars for Scholars, which she helped establish in 1987.
It was originally called the Steve Rogow Dollars for Scholars, named for a local community volunteer and personal friend who died at the age of 42 that year, she said.
Soon, others wanted to donate scholarships in the names of friends and loved ones as the movement grew, she said. In 1993, in conjunction with Scholarship America, the Elsbree house officially became Ocean Beach Dollars for Scholars.
For more information, visit www.californiadollarsforscholars.org.
To donate to the Ocean Beach Dollars for Scholars, call (619) 226-4133.