More than $630,000 in college scholarships awarded
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Aug. 5, 2016)
The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is pleased to announce that 136 service members and veterans have been selected as 2016 fall semester recipients of the VFW’s “Sport Clips Help A Hero Scholarship.” Together, these student veterans will receive a combined $631,892 in aid, setting a new program record for assistance provided.
Through the VFW’s long-standing relationship with Sport Clips Haircuts, the Help A Hero Scholarship program was enacted nearly four years ago to provide service members and veterans with the financial assistance needed to complete their educational goals without incurring excessive student loan debt.
With the continued rising costs of education, military education benefits often run out or fall short of covering the full costs of a college education which leaves many student veterans without a degree. The Help A Hero Scholarship provides student veterans with the chance to achieve their education goals by filling those gaps.
To date, the Help A Hero program has awarded more than $2.4 million in financial aid and has provided scholarships to 580 service members and veterans.
Scholarship recipient Timothy Gamber explains, “Being a full time student and parent along with my physical limitations has brought a financial burden to myself. The VA only covers so much of the costs of college and I have a family to consider in all of my expenses. Student loans are … a hole that I am trying to avoid digging deeper into. This scholarship will allow me to pay for a semester’s worth of quality education and get me closer to my goal of a degree. It will allow me to put more financially toward the betterment of my family.”
Help A Hero scholarships are awarded exclusively to service members and veterans twice a year and help cover the cost of tuition and fees. Scholarship applications are currently being accepted for the 2017 spring semester.
Click here to see a complete list of the 2016 fall recipients.
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ABOUT THE VFW: The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. is a nonprofit veterans service organization comprised of eligible veterans and military service members from the active, Guard and Reserve forces. Founded in 1899 and chartered by Congress in 1936, the VFW is the nation's largest organization of war veterans and its oldest major veterans organization. With more than1.7 million VFW and Auxiliary members located in more than 6,800 Posts worldwide, “NO ONE DOES MORE FOR VETERANS.” The VFW and its Auxiliaries are dedicated to veterans’ service, legislative advocacy, and military and community service programs. For more information or to join, visit our website at www.vfw.org.
ABOUT SPORT CLIPS HAIRCUTS: Sport Clips Haircuts is headquartered in Georgetown, Texas. It was established in 1993 and began franchising in 1995. The sports-themed haircutting franchise, which specializes in haircuts for men and boys, is ranked by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the “Fastest-Growing Franchises” and in the top 20 in its “Franchise 500.” There are more than 1,500 Sport Clips stores open in the U.S. and Canada. Sport Clips is the “Official Haircutter” of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), offers veterans preferential pricing on haircuts and franchises, and was named a “2016 Best for Vets: Franchises” by Military Times. Sport Clips provides “haircuts with heart” through its annual Help A Hero fundraiser that has given almost $4 million to the VFW; national partnership with St. Baldrick’s Foundation, the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants; and other national and local philanthropic outreach. Sport Clips is a proud sponsor of Joe Gibbs Racing’s NASCAR drivers Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards, and partners with numerous NCAA and professional sports teams. To learn more about Sport Clips, visit sportclips.com.