First, some basics.  You might not even realize that our Chamber performs public service through an educational foundation.  The Brick Township Chamber of Commerce Educational Foundation, Inc. (quite a mouthful to say!), is a qualified 501c (3) as determined by the IRS.    We have been making scholarship awards to deserving students for more than 15 years and are proud to announce that this year we will be awarding eight (10) $1,000 scholarships!

Now some details about why we spend time on this. We do it because we always strive to be good corporate citizens, because our members care about the communities they do business in, because giving is a good thing and because education is a path to success and achievement.
 
Nice thoughts, but how do we accomplish these goals? This answer isn’t too complicated.  We award scholarships to students who show promise and need.  Every spring we mail applications to our members and encourage them to share them with their employees and the children of those employees. The applications are also in the high schools and Vocational-Technical School. Somewhat unusual is that we don’t define students by age or course of study. We make awards to adults as well as graduating high school seniors, to those already pursuing a course of study, to people who are changing fields and well…you get the idea.  We also give scholarships to those pursuing education that is vocational as well as the traditional academic.

Great. But before you give it away you have to have it.  So where does the money come from? Many places. We occasionally hold special fundraisers, sometimes members fund a scholarship for a specific field of study and our members make donations throughout the year.

People make donations to honor or memorialize someone special, and we notify the recipient or family of this generosity. There’s no minimum (or maximum for that matter!) amount you can give. We are grateful that you are helping to build a stronger community.

And then of course there’s our tree. A beautiful Tree of Learning graces the center hallway of the Brick Township Municipal Building, with leaves, boulders and medallions that are inscribed with special messages and names. The birth of a new grandchild, the name of a favorite teacher, the name of a departed loved one …the community has been very involved in helping the tree grow.

 If you would like information about making a donation or about how you can have a name added to the Tree of Learning, please call the Chamber of Commerce office.