On an absolutely gorgeous evening, August 27, at his home overlooking Cape Newagen on Southport Island, and in the presence of approximately 50 donors, board members and other friends of the Boothbay Region Student Aid Fund, Board President Hamilton “Ham” Meserve announced the creation the “Legacy Society.”

Ham prefaced his announcement by acknowledging some of the people at the gathering who had been over the years vital to the organization’s success, people such as Marvin Rosenblum, a founder of the BRSAF, Cy Seifert, a founder of “Dollars for Scholars,” and for years a guiding force behind the BRSAF, and past presidents Bill Bailey, Phil Smith, Maureen Kinsey and Allen Johnson.

He next recited some salient facts regarding the Student Aid Fund, among them that the organization is in its 50th year since being founded in 1964. He stressed that BRSAF grants are not merit-based, but (in an age of soaring educational costs) help families of all Boothbay Region High School graduates meet the unmet need for the cost of a post-secondary education, whether that be at Yale, Duke, or Bowdoin, or at USM, Southern Maine Community College, or a school of cosmetology.

For this academic year (2013-2014) the BRSAF awarded 59 grants, totaling $238,800, to graduates attending 36 different schools. Twenty-eight went to entering freshmen, eight to sophomores, 11 to juniors, and three to graduate students. The average grant was $4,100 up from $3,500 the previous year. Given our endowment of $3.6 million, current grants cover about 30 percent of unmet family need.

However, proclaimed Ham, the BRSAF’s ultimate goal is to meet 100 percent of family unmet need, a goal that in today’s dollars would require the organization’s endowment to be over $13 million dollars. Although the BRSAF is renowned in Maine and nationally for its fiscal soundness and generosity, it clearly has a long, long way to go toward achieving its final goal.

It is toward that lofty goal that Ham announced the founding of the new “Legacy Society,” a society which honors all donors who have included the Fund in their planned giving. Anyone is eligible for membership who has named the fund as a beneficiary in their will, or in a retirement instrument such as a pension, a trust, an annuity, an insurance policy, or an IRA.

Many of the people attending Monday evening’s event (should they desire) will be listed as charter members of the society. Ham next introduced board member and chair of the Development Committee, Brad Hastings, noting that Hastings is interested in learning of anyone, currently unknown, who might have named the BRSAF in their will or other planned giving instrument so that they might be included in the new society.

Ham concluded his presentation by thanking everyone for coming and for their generosity. All agreed that it was a truly wonderful and enjoyable evening and one spent on behalf of a great cause.

For more information about the BRSAF, please go to the organization’s website: www.boothbayregionstudentaidfund.org