The MaryEllen Locher Scholarship Fund at CHI Memorial Foundation is accepting applications for the 2022-2023 school year, focusing on awarding college scholarships to the children of breast cancer patients.
Applicants must be students who have either lost a parent to breast cancer, have a parent who is currently undergoing treatment for the disease, or have a parent who is a breast cancer survivor.
Applications are available at memorial.org/melscholarshipfund and must be received by Friday, Jan. 14. College students or high school seniors within a 50-mile radius of Chattanooga are eligible to apply.
Applications must include two written essays, a recommendation letter, a list of extracurricular activities and awards, proof of a breast cancer diagnosis and a school transcript.
The fund does not set a minimum grade-point average requirement; rather, any student is encouraged to apply.
Scholarship winners will be announced in the spring of 2022.
The MaryEllen Locher Scholarship Fund was founded as an independent nonprofit in 2002 by MaryEllen Locher, a longtime news anchor and health reporter for WTVC in Chattanooga. Formerly known as the MaryEllen Locher Scholarship Foundation, it joined with CHI Memorial Foundation in January 2021.
Locher started the foundation during her own battle with breast cancer because she was concerned about her son’s future education. She did not want other parents to share that concern while they were struggling with this disease. Locher died in 2005 after her third bout with cancer.
The fund has awarded 540 scholarships in 19 years totaling $981,500.
Funds for scholarships are raised through special events, individual donations, corporate sponsorships and private grants.
Online donations to the MaryEllen Locher Scholarship Fund can be made at memorial.org/foundation. Checks can be mailed to:
CHI Memorial Foundation
2525 de Sales Avenue
Chattanooga, TN 37404.
Make a notation to direct to the MEL Scholarship Fund on the memo line of check.
Source: CHI Memorial