Each year CFNIL has the opportunity to participate in Scholarship Day at Rockford University as the steward of endowed RU scholarship funds. This year 19 students were awarded Barber Colman Management Fund scholarship, their names added to the ranks of nearly 500 students who have received this scholarship. In 1987 when Rockford company Barber Colman was sold, forty managers decided to pool their resources and establish a $1M fund at CFNIL to support scholarships at Rockford College (now Rockford University). That fund has grown to nearly $1.8M and will continue to grow and support Rockford University students in perpetuity.

Thanks to the legacy gift of Dr. Louis and Violet Rubin, two years ago CFNIL and Rockford University announced the Rubin Education Challenge. The goal of the Challenge is to build a three-million-dollar scholarship endowment for students attending Rockford University, half of the endowment coming from the Community Foundation and half from the University. Scholarship recipients must have graduated from high schools within Winnebago, Boone, Stephenson or Ogle counties, demonstrate financial need, and show great promise as scholars.

The challenge is nearing a successful completion, and thanks to generous combined gifts from the estates of Timothy Bederka, a data information specialist from the class of 1991, and Jayne Lyons, a life-long educator and MAT graduate from the class of 1972, four students were awarded the Rubin-Bederka Scholarship and twelve the Rubin-Lyons Scholarship.

Congratulations to each recipient!