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WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 23, 2008) - Military family members
looking to further their education have a friend in a support
organization called Thanks USA.
"So many spouses appreciate the opportunity to go back to school
and finish their education," explained Carolyn Ferek, Thanks USA's
board secretary, said in an "ASY Live" interview on
BlogTalkRadio.
"ASY Live" is part of America Supports You, a Defense Department
program connecting citizens and companies with servicemembers and
their families serving at home and abroad. Thanks USA is an America
Supports You supporter.
Ferek said the focus of Thanks USA is different from that of
many other scholarship-based organizations, because while it does
focus on providing assistance to military dependents, it also
uniquely gears a lot of its funding toward spouses.
"It's not just for dependents," she said. "It's for spouses,
because we feel like so many times the spouses are at home taking
care of the families, and they are forced to put their career on
hold."
When the organization was founded, Ferek explained, she could
not find many organizations that focused on providing for spouses
and dependents of current servicemembers based on their need. "Some
offered them to military families if there was a death or an
injury, but ours isn't like that," she said. "We offer it as a
need-based scholarship; we have educational scholarships for any
branch of the military for college, technical and vocational
schools."
Ferek cited a couple of people the organization has helped.
"I remember one person that wrote to us saying that she would be
the first one in her family to have a college education thanks to
our program," Ferek said. "Another woman we helped down in Florida
had just had a lung transplant, and still really wanted to go to
college. She was just trying to get herself healthy, but she was
just so positive and optimistic about her future and wanting to
make a difference. So many of the scholarship winners want to give
back to the community."
The organization has raised nearly $4 million and we has awarded
more than 1,350 scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 dollars.
"We have given scholarships to military families all across the
United States in all 50 states," Ferek said.
Editor's Note: To find out about more individuals,
groups and organizations that are helping support the troops,
visit www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil. America
Supports You directly connects military members to the support of
the America people and offers a tool to the general public in their
quest to find meaningful ways to support the military
community.
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