May 11, 2020 - Dan Messersmith, the president of The Rotary Vocation Fund of Arizona (TRVFA) gave us an excellent overview of the TRVFA organization. You can see his presentation by CLICKING HERE
Dan told us that TRVFA has been around for 30 years and serves all of Arizona. The purpose of TRVFA is to provide educational grants to students who are below Arizona Poverty Guidelines. If student applicants are approved by TRVFA then they contact or are contacted by a club who interviews them and decides if the applicant should be sponsored by the club. If the club approves the student then TRVFA sends the grant money directly to the school to cover costs of tuition, fees, books etc. This is considered as a "hand-up" for the student rather than a "hand-out". Students are usually very successful and continue with their education. They are asked to return to the sponsoring club to give an update on their progress. The typical grant is $2,000. Last year 100 stuents received grants totaling over $180,000. The TRVFA program has been very successful and Dan emphasized that participating clubs get the opportunity to have a "hands-on" experience in helping needy students. CLICK HERE to see Dan's presentation.