The Palm Beach State College Foundation has been awarded $40,000 for the second year in a row from the Ibis Friends of Veterans Charitable Organization to support student veterans at the college.
The donation will be used toward scholarships and book stipends. One student recipient, Joseph Morel, was not only a veteran, but also a first-generation college student when he received an Ibis scholarship award.
“The scholarship was a blessing, as I am the first in my family to attend college in more than five generations,” said Morel, who is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. “Words will never be able to sum up what a privilege and honor it is to have received the scholarship award.”
The donation, which was presented at the Ibis Golf & Country Club, is the latest in a series of gifts by the organization over the past four years bringing its total amount of PBSC giving to $140,000. The donation comes on the heels of the college opening its doors to its new Veterans Success Center on the Lake Worth campus.
“The board members of the Ibis Friends of Veterans, the volunteers and the residents support student veterans at Palm Beach State to show our sincere gratitude to the men and women who have put their lives on the line defending our freedoms,” said Chairman Harvey Gingold, who has been a 13-year resident of the Ibis Golf & Country Club and has served on the Ibis Friends of Veterans board for the past four years. “We hope that they can meet their educational goals and build a better life for themselves and their families.”
The $40,000 came from a larger donation of $145,000 collected from the organization’s annual golf tournament and divided among the PBSC Foundation, the Stand Down House, the Wounded Veterans Relief Fund and Paws 4 Liberty.
“The college has a reputation of supporting its veterans. However, because of the Ibis Friends of Veterans continued annual support, we have been able to take that support to a new level,” said Matthew Watkins, veteran affairs coordinator at Palm Beach State. “It has not only helped us bring more resources to our veterans, but has helped the college increase veteran student enrollment and support college-wide.”
