Dear Friends,
This spring 101 Albert Baker Fund Scholarship recipients are graduating from college. We are so grateful to our generous donors who helped fund the education of a new generation of healers.
It may surprise you to learn that, although these students received an Albert Baker Scholarship and scholarships from their colleges and other organizations, many are graduating with significant student loans. The average education debt of our scholarship recipients is $20,000, and repayment of this debt often takes more than 15 years.
Our goal is to help these young Christian Scientists graduate from college debt free by increasing the amount of our scholarships. This year each of our scholarship recipients will receive a $3,500 Albert Baker Scholarship. With your help, these students will also receive a $1,500 Pass Your Blessings Forward Scholarship, thereby increasing their total award to $5,000.
Harvey Heiges shares why he funds Pass Your Blessings Forward Scholarships
The Pass Your Blessings Forward Scholarship was established last year to provide donors the opportunity to pass forward the blessings they have received. One of these donors is Harvey Heiges of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, and McLean, Virginia. Harvey earned his PhD from the University of Washington in Seattle and spent his career in the field of transportation. He worked for the Federal Department of Transportation and then the Central Intelligence Agency until his retirement.
“I learned about The Albert Baker Fund a few years ago when one of my granddaughters received a scholarship. Her first award consisted of a scholarship and a loan. The following year her award was entirely a scholarship. I was particularly pleased to learn that ABF had changed its policy to drop loans so that students are no longer fettered with repayments.”
“Last summer ABF offered me an opportunity to support Christian Science, particularly the next generation of young people who are the future of the Christian Science movement, by funding a Pass Your Blessings Forward Scholarship. ABF’s high standards in selecting students to receive these scholarships have given me confidence that the most deserving and strong Christian Science students are receiving my support. For this reason, I funded two scholarships last year and eight scholarships for the upcoming academic year.”
“I hope you will join me in funding a Pass Your Blessings Forward Scholarship. The fact that the scholarship recipients are in contact with their sponsors will give you a sense of participation in the student’s progress. The Albert Baker Fund is a top-notch organization worthy of your and my support.”
— Harvey Heiges, Pawleys Island, South Carolina, and McLean, Virginia
“ABF’s high standards in selecting students to receive these scholarships has given me confidence that the most deserving and strong Christian Science students are receiving my support.”
Last year Harvey funded a Pass Your Blessings Forward Scholarship for Delaney Gatine and Gracen Huffman
Delaney is committed to using her legal education to change the criminal-justice system. She shared, “We need to look at criminals as people and account for people’s humanity. I hope to begin my career in criminal litigation and, ultimately, to become a judge and concurrently work on criminal-justice reform.” Delaney attends Sunday Services at her local Christian Science church and studies the Christian Science Bible Lesson regularly. Delaney loves reading the Sermon on the Mount. It reminds her of her duties as a follower of Christ and encourages her to hold herself to a high, moral standard.
Delaney Gatine, Juris Doctor
The George Washington University Law School, Class of 2025
Gracen attends the University of San Diego because it fosters an atmosphere of outreach, has a high-level business school, and provides opportunities for students to be changemakers. Christian Science has played a pivotal role in Gracen’s under-standing of her life experiences. She shared, “A time that it was really difficult for me to see God’s presence was when I was working in South Africa. Seeing that level of poverty made me feel very insignificant, and, at first glance, it was easy to feel that God didn’t care for them. Redirecting my thought allowed me to love those people so much more and do a lot more good for them as well.”
Gracen Huffman, Business Administration and Management
University of San Diego, CA, Class of 2026
Here’s how the scholarship works
When you fund a Pass Your Blessings Forward Scholarship, you are matched to a student. The student will receive your $1,500 Pass Your Blessings Forward Scholarship and a $3,500 Albert Baker Scholarship for a total award of $5,000. When your scholarship is awarded, we will notify you of the student whom you are supporting. In the fall, you will receive an email from the student sharing their plans for the upcoming academic year. In the spring, you will have an opportunity to meet your scholarship recipient at a virtual “meet and greet” via Zoom.
If you would like to fund a scholarship, you can give in one of two ways:
- Fund (or pledge) a scholarship for one year with a gift of $1,500 or with a monthly gift of $125 for 12 months.
- Make a gift of any size. Although you won’t be matched to a specific student, we will combine it with other gifts to fund a scholarship.
I hope you will consider this wonderful opportunity to pass your blessings forward to help young Christian Scientists fund their college education. If you have any questions, please contact Sue Ellen Coughtry at sueellen.coughtry@albertbakerfund.org or (916) 594-9513.
Students have already started applying for fall scholarships, so we hope to hear from you soon. We are expecting 200 students to apply. With deep appreciation,
Dr. Joseph M. Ritter, CEO
The Albert Baker Fund
P.S. The students who received a donor-funded Pass Your Blessings Forward Scholarship last year are listed below.
