Biblioteca Pública AC.

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By Marie Moébius

“This is truly the meaning of life… the gift of a scholarship for a deserving child in your name” said Efrain Gonzalez on behalf of Laura Cerroblanco and himself. The occasion was a surprise ceremony recognizing the couple’s years of selfless services to the lives of children and the non profit organizations that serve them in greater San Miguel. 

Their gift was among the first in a new campaign, named “The Gift of the Year”, offered by the Biblioteca under which thoughtful donors honor admired persons by the gift of scholarships. Each provides a year of high school or university study to highly qualified, carefully selected students who otherwise could not afford the year.

“There is no honor higher than a child being able to go to school”, summarized Efrain, in a profound statement of appreciation for the two scholarships given to Laura and Efrain by two expat family friends who knew first hand their good works for the community.

The Biblioteca scholarship fundraising committee is co-chaired by two new volunteers, Kathryn and Bill Graham. “We came here with a history of helping out and making contributions to community, just like many others we are meeting”, explained Kathryn Graham.

“As expats from the US we immediately saved greatly on taxes and other expenses. We saw that poor families often face an impossible challenge in continuing education. It surprised us to see that if anyone could provide an affordable $20 usd a month contribution, that would fund a high school scholarship, and $40 a month would fund a university scholarship. That seemed to us to provide the perfect way to give back to the SMA community, where we are all enjoying a wonderful quality of life as well as many economic benefits.”, added Bill Graham. 

The scholarships are the perfect gift for family members, best friends, to recognize outstanding achievements, prizes, birthdays, anniversaries and weddings. The Biblioteca scholarship gift site is set up to receive a monthly payment or a single payment. It makes it easy to pay the $20 or $40 monthly cost of a scholarship. Any reader can contribute or learn more by clicking on the DONATE button of the Biblioteca website. The fundraising staff at the Bibioteca stands ready to help out or answer questions and offers a range of presentation packages in support of making scholarship awards.

“We invite our friends and all in the community who can help with this exciting new program to contribute to Biblioteca scholars. You will reward talented young people who deserve the opportunity to improve their  lives, and their families as well,” said Bill Graham, in conclusion.

Bill and Kathryn are invited to present the campaign “The Gift of the Year” and the Scholarship Program at the Rotary Club on June 21. Readers should go to the Rotary Midday website.