Sherrill – Forney Scholarship Endowment
by Sarah Williams
In 2002 Asheville-Buncombe Community Relations Council sought a way to honor the memory of two remarkable women, ABCRC staff member Phyllis Sherrill and retired educator Gladys Forney, who served on ABCRC’s board. Active community leaders and volunteers, both women wanted to help young people who could not ordinarily afford to attend college. Out of their shared dream grew the Sherrill/Forney Memorial Scholarship Fund, established in 2003.
The Fund annually awards two scholarships to high-achieving students who have completed their high school requirements and hope to further their education. To date, fourteen scholarships have been awarded to students from Asheville High, North Buncombe High, Enka High, Clyde A. Erwin High, and Asheville Buncombe Technical Community College.
Scholarship Recipients
2003 – Serena Love (Asheville High) and Kenneth Allen (North Buncombe)
2004 – Jose Luis Marino-Saldana (AB-Tech) and Leslie Davidson (Asheville High)
2005 – Rick Ianniello (Enka High) and Derrick Beasley (Asheville High)
2006 – Angela Fate and Apryl Littlejohn, both from Asheville High
2007 – Bryn Willams and Anthony Briggs, both from Asheville High
2008 – Keiko Wadsworth (Clyde Erwin) and Carolina Moser (Enka High)
2009 – Tyler Jeffries and Dreama Davis, both from Asheville High, and both of whom have also received other scholarships.
In its first years the Fund raised money to support that year’s
scholarships. For several years the ABCRC has worked to build an
endowment that will create a permanent source of revenue for the
scholarships. Among early donors to the Endowment Fund have been the
Helen Tarasov Reed Memorial Fund and the Martin Luther King Jr.
Association of Asheville and Buncombe County.
In addition to support from other nonprofit organizations,
individual and corporate donations to the Fund are being sought; all
gifts are fully tax-deductible. Contributions should be made payable to
the ABCRC Memorial Scholarship Fund and mailed to the Asheville-Buncombe
Community Relations Council, 50 S. French Broad Avenue, Suite 214,
Asheville, NC 28801.
