Dana Snider
Scholarship Committee Member
Retiring after 32 years in education, former Northridge guidance counselor Dana Snider is pleased as he watches Elkhart County’s Dollars for Scholars® program grow. “Actually, it’s not just growing,” he says. “Through contributions and memorials, it’s snowballing!”
Viewing the school’s previous scholarship program as too limited, Dana initiated the first county Dollars for Scholars chapter at Northridge in the late 80s so that more high school students could be eligible for college funding assistance. Now, almost all Elkhart County public school systems have a chapter.
“Through Dollars for Scholars, the method for determining eligibility for college scholarships is excellent,” Dana says. “It’s fair, organized and a sophisticated 501c3, tax-exempt program.”
In 1992, the Northridge chapter affiliated with ECCF to establish a permanent fund. According to Dana, “it was a marriage at the right time with local money, local financiers and local kids. And it’s handled by the Foundation, an organization with integrity and the structure, investment experience and know-how the program needed.”
Other Elkhart County chapters soon affiliated with the ECCF to invest their permanent fund monies. Currently, these chapters have over $1.2 million invested and have raised over $5.3 million in scholarship aid since ’92, enabling over 6,000 students to pursue a post-high school education. These are statistics that make a former guidance counselor smile… and admit that his dream is well on its way to being achieved.
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