Bobcat Pride Scholarship Foundation to hold 10th birthday celebration
Bobcat Pride Scholarship Foundation will hold its 10th birthday reboot celebration on Saturday, April 9, from 2 – 6 p.m. at Wake the Dead Coffee House. The event will feature live music by River Mountain Green and a short program at 4 p.m. At the program, BPSF will share highlights from the past fiscal year and upcoming goals for the foundation. There will also be silent auction bundles available for bidding, and participants need not be present to win.
“We are so excited to gather to celebrate the decade birthday of BPSF and celebrate our accomplishments as a community,” said Heather Aidala, executive director of the Bobcat Pride Scholarship Foundation.
At the onset of the pandemic, BPSF relaunched the Jeremy O. Torres Emergency Stabilization Fund. “Being able to promote this essential resource to LGBTQIA+ emerging adults as the pandemic started was serendipitous,” Aidala said. “I feel so fortunate that our donor’s generosity and the hard work of our volunteer Board of Directors meant we were a safety net to 60 LGBTQIA+ emerging adults in our community who were already navigating phobias and discrimination, and then layered with the emotional and financial stressors the pandemic unfolded.”
Of the 60 individuals safeguarded by the Stabilization Fund, 39 of them were Texas State University students.
“So many people, especially those coming from disenfranchised communities, are just one paycheck away from being unable to meet their basic needs or end up unhoused,” Aidala said. “Therefore, BPSF is crucial. Especially in the wake of two years of an unprecedented health crisis. And now the impact of inflation is straining wages even further.”
This past fiscal year, BPSF experienced a 178% increase through donations and grant funding. “Our volunteer board continues to keep overhead to a minimum, with only 6% of revenue going towards maintenance,” Aidala said. “Jeremy’s legacy lives strong.”
In order to RSVP for this year’s event celebrating 10 years with the Bobcat Pride Scholarship Fund, see the organization’s page on Facebook at fb.me/e/235rgnAbT or by searching Bobcat Pride 10th Birthday Reboot.
For more information, visit bobcatpridescholarship.com/
