Scholarship group has great first event

Excel Beyond 211 Dollars for Scholars is a newly created not-for-profit benefiting college-ready graduates from District 211 high schools who are low income, and the first generation in their families to attend college.

Our mission is to provide mentoring and scholarships to assist these students in their transition to college and persistence through graduation.

Our first fundraiser for scholarships was partnering with Wolff's Flea Market in Palatine. We had a giant garage sale on Aug. 9th and 10th and raised over $2,000 to benefit our students. A huge thank you to the Wolff family for not only providing us with space and tables to set up our event but a tremendous amount of publicity on social media, via email and in community newsletters.

Any request we had, they went over and above to accommodate us. They also provided us with a very generous donation to support our scholarship fund. Kudos to Wolff's Flea Market for being such a generous community business and supporting our 31 recent high school graduates in their desire to attend college.

Not only will it change the lives of the students, but the lives of their families and the community in which they live. We couldn't have raised this money without them!

Donna Epton

Hoffman Estates

Board member, Excel Beyond 211 Dollars for Scholars