Florida scholarship fund failed to deliver $484,000 to students
From Sunshine Review
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October 1, 2009 A Broward County, Florida scholarship fund was forced to admit it has not delivered almost $484,000 of promised aid to South Florida college students.[1]
[edit] Community Blood Centers-funded
South Florida Community Blood Centers, based in Lauderhill, funded the scholarship fund. It announced it will try to contact high school graduates dating to 2007 who were supposed to receive the college scholarships, but did not.
The Sun Sentinel used information provided by the blood bank to compile an online list of about 540 students from Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties who are eligible for the aid.[1]
[edit] Beverly Gallagher
There is no sign of wrongdoing, but a Broward School Board member, Beverly Gallagher, has been the executive director of the fund since 2002. Gallagher was arrested in late September 2009 for bribery, fraud and extortion, along with two other Broward County politicians.[2] She was under an FBI sting operation wherein undercover agents allegedly passed $12,500 to her in return for making arrangements for them to get school construction contracts.[1]
The blood bank says they do not expect she pilfered the money and that she did not control the scholarship checkbook.
"She had no way to get her hands on any money," the blood bank president Dr. Charles Rouault said in an interview. "There's not a cent missing."
Gallagher was the overseer of the program and her arrest raised questions about how she got the $1,000-a-week job and what her role there was, though it was not related to the arrest.[1]
Rouault said many influential people gave her great recommendations, including a former schools superintendent Frank Till, Clerk of Court Howard Forman and a lobbyist, Neil Sterling. Sterling represents construction firms that do work for the district. Forman told the Sun Sentinel he didn't recall any involvement.
Initially Gallagher was paid about $535 a week and fixed problems arising at schools over blood donations, Rouault said.
It was a part-time job until a few years ago, when she was given a raise because she was working more hours on the program's reorganization. However, she was not a regular presence in the office.
"There would be times when she'd put in a full day with us...then we might not hear from her for a couple more days or a week," Rouault said.
Overall, Rouault said, Gallagher "throughout her tenure did a good job."
[edit] Blood drives
The blood drive organization supplies blood it gathers from high school drives to hospitals for a fee. Rouault said students generate more than 55,000 donations yearly that net $25 million.
The organization places $20 in the account to fund scholarships for each pint donated by a high school student. However, annually filed tax returns list many students who never collect the funds awarded them.
The unused funds are rolled over from year to year and students have a two year period to collect their money, or it is transferred to someone else.
One hundred students in the 2006 graduating glass have lost the $76,000 earmarked for them.
According to Rouault, students that have not collected the money owed, the students are at fault because they either do not attend college or do not follow instructions. College bursars receive all money awarded.
[edit] Couldn't collect
Some high school grads who did enter college said they didn't know they won a scholarship and others said the process for accessing the money was confusing.
Eleni Machado said she wasn't told she had been awarded $7,720. Now a 19-year-old at Nova Southeastern University, she was a 2008 graduate from Greater Miami Adventist Academy, where she gave blood and recruited other donors.
"That's a lot of money!" she said. "I wish I could have gotten it."
Students who receive the scholarships are chosen for showing leadership in conducting the blood drives. They must have a minimum "C" average and a letter of recommendation from their school.
Each year the blood bank hosts a banquet for the winners, who receive a certificate and a letter explaining how to receive the funds. The students' teachers receive the information when students don't attend.
"Maybe we need to rethink this and follow up with a letter at the time of the award to their home," said Steven Erjavec, the blood center's chief financial officer.
Erjavec said the "vast majority" of the scholarships do get paid, adding up to nearly $450,000 disbursed to colleges and universities in fiscal year 2007-08.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Scholarship fund failed to deliver $484,000 to students," South Florida Sun Sentinel, October 1, 2009
- ↑ "Outlne of charges against Beverly Gallagher," Sun-Sentinel, September 23, 2009
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