Yesterday afternoon, Delegate J.B. Jennings (R-7th Legislative District) came to the aide for students waiting to receive their scholarship awards distributed by the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC).
The MHEC is experiencing funding shortfalls in the Charles W. Riley Fire and Emergency Services Tuition Reimbursement Program and the Veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq Conflict Scholarship. As a result, several eligible applicants have been placed on a waiting list. In an effort to help supplement these two (2) programs, Delegate Jennings donated Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) to each from his Legislative Scholarship Fund.
Delegate Jennings said, “As a former member of the Jacksonville Volunteer Fire Company and currently serving as member of United States Air National Guard, it comes without any trepidation to provide these two (2) honorable programs with funding from my legislative scholarship account. I strongly encourage all of my colleagues to do the same.” He further stated, “The courageous sacrifice of an individual that ensured our public safety and our national protection should never go unrecognized. Furthermore, these individuals and/or their loved one(s) should not be inhibited to receive their qualified state assistance as the result of the State’s inadequacy to fund these programs.”
The Charles W. Riley Fire and Emergency Services Tuition Reimbursement Program is eligible for active career or volunteer firefighter, ambulance or rescue squad member.
The Veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq Conflicts Scholarship Program is designed to provide financial assistance to United States armed forces personnel who served in the Afghanistan or Iraq Conflicts, and their sons, daughters, or spouses who are current high school seniors, and full-time and part-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students enrolled in an eligible accredited Maryland postsecondary institution.
Hats off to Delegate Jennings and staff for once again stepping up for his constituents. To have survivors/veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts as well are our voluntary firemen be denied educational benefits/scholarships is shameful behavior for the State Of Maryland. I suspect we will hear more of this, given MOM’s plans for further cuts and funding shortfalls.