Remembering the forgotten ones

Thursday, September 20, 2007
Mary Allison Trust Fund Board members (back row) Ginger Scott, Jim Poor, Jim Jackson, Joe Ferguson, Matt Headley, Lucy Wieland presents a symbolic $1,000 check to (center) Jan Evans, of Tzouanakis Intermediate School, Christy Schneckebrier, of Cloverdale Elementary School and Kirstie McClamroch, of Bainbridge Elementary School, Tuesday afternoon.

It doesn't take a lot of family resources for children to attend school.

But for some kids whose parents don't have money to spare, a lack of routine health care and basic necessities can get in the way of education. They just need a little extra help, sometimes.

That is where the Mary Allison Trust Fund comes in. Since 1896, the trust fund has helped needy schoolchildren in Putnam County. And this year is no different.

At the annual Mary Allison Luncheon Tuesday at the Area 30 Career Center, trust fund board members presented each Putnam County elementary school with a check for $1,000 to help needy and at-risk children.

"We get the kids who fall through the cracks," said Trust Fund Board President Jim Jackson.

Every elementary administrator and counselor can tell stories about the good that the Mary Allison money has done in the past, said Jan Evans, a counselor at Tzouanakis Intermediate School.

Most recently, Tzouanakis used the funds to pay for a doctor's appointment for an uninsured student who badly needed one, she said. Glasses are another common purchase. The money frequently goes to pay for dental work for students, as well.

The Mary Allison money is reserved only for circumstances for which there are no other financial solutions, Jackson said. But once that determination is made, there are no restrictions on how the money can be spent.

Kirstie McClamroch, a counselor at Bainbridge Elementary, said she is new to the area but she was pleasantly surprised to hear that the local schools received a high level of community support.

The money given to the schools each year comes from an annual charity golf outing as well as business support like Dixie Chopper's sponsorship this year.

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