Dear MOAS Member,As you are no doubt aware, it is the time of year again when the Membership Committee is sending out Membership Renewal applications, and along with them come our hopes for your annual donations to our Sarasota Military Officers Scholarship Fund (SMOSF).
With your help, SMOSF has been able to provide educational and vocational merit based scholarships to qualified, high achieving seniors and, for the first time, need based scholarships to returning veterans attending local educational institutions. We have supported High School JROTC programs, the Academic Olympics and other youth related educational activities. Our SMOSF Support Our Troops (SOT) program, dedicated to providing morale enhancing support services to deployed service members, has been highly successful and brought us recognition from the troops, MOAA, and local communities.
This year, however, we are separating the SMOSF Donation Campaign from Membership Renewal because we have been afforded a very special opportunity!
The Patterson Foundation, through its Legacy of Valor Campaign, has announced a dollar-for-dollar matching opportunity for twelve (12) community organizations supporting veterans in South West Florida. Our Scholarship Fund was selected as one of the twelve eligible for this wonderful matching gift. Participating organizations had to meet the following criteria:
· Current partners in the Legacy of Valor campaign honoring veterans and their families.
· Have updated profiles on the Community Foundation of Sarasota’s Giving Partner site.
· Have an ongoing program that benefits those who have, will, or are serving in the United States military.
SMOSF’s commitment to education, veterans assistance, and deployed active duty military personnel through SOT along with our presence on The Giving Partner site and our participation in the Legacy of Valor campaign met these requirements.
From October 15th through November 15th, The Patterson Foundation will match donations from $25 up to $1,000 made through the http://givetolegacyofvalor.org website (per donor per organization). Donations must be made on-line, and the attached flyer describes the steps for going on-line to the website, selecting the Sarasota Military Officers Scholarship Fund, and making a donation.
For those of you who will be at the October 18th, luncheon and would like assistance in making an on-line donation, we will have computers and help available.
Any donation, great and small, will help your SMOSF to get closer to its goal to improve the lives of veterans, support active duty military, and provide financial assistance to deserving high school seniors and those who will one day be serving in the United States military and be there for us.
This is your chance to double the value of your donation to SMOSF.
Please feel free to pass this information on to friends and family for them to contribute to this worthy cause.
Claire Power
MOAS Director, Scholarships
