The Jefferson College Foundation received $285,734.40 for a nursing scholarship fund from a former nonprofit’s board.
Crystal Oaks, which is a skilled nursing facility in Crystal City, was sold to a private company in 2023. Due to the sale, the former nonprofit’s board had to liquidate all assets and donate the remaining funds.
The donation, which was announced at the college’s annual Scholarship Donor and Recipient Luncheon on Oct. 21, will be used to establish the Futures in Skilled Nursing Fund for nursing and other health occupation scholarships at the college.
Melissa Barreca, executive director of strategic communications and Jefferson College Foundation executive director, said they began discussing the potential donation with Crystal Oaks in 2023, when it was sold.
“Our former board members care deeply about the residents of our community and their care,” said Dan Eckenfels, former president of the Crystal Oaks board. “While the decision to sell the facility was a difficult one, deciding what to do with the funds had an obvious answer.”
Barreca said the foundation has a meeting scheduled with the committee in charge of administering the scholarship since this is a new fund.
“Normally, what would happen is we would get the fund, and it would start to accrue interest, and then we would award scholarships based on the interest received in the previous year,” she said. “Since it’s a brand new scholarship fund, we have a meeting scheduled in November with the committee that’s going to be in charge of administering the scholarship to decide if they want to pull a small piece of that money before we put it into the endowed funds and use it for cash scholarships for the coming year.”
Barreca said the college is going to recommend an amount, but they need to determine what that amount is based on nursing enrollment and what the program needs.
“Our scholarship programs are growing, and we are continuing to get new scholarships every year,” she said.
“I love it when we have a community group or an organization like Crystal Oaks that has a mission that matches up with what the college is doing, and we can work together to ultimately benefit the students.”
Last year, Jefferson College gave out 171 scholarships at the luncheon and $269,000 in awards.