May 13, 2002 – Thanks to contributions from 11 national companies responding to appeals from Tom Joyner, 27 University of the Virgin Islands students will get scholarship help totaling $54,000. Four other students have received desktop computers, and five more have gotten laptops.
The companies making the donations did so through the Irving, Texas-based Tom Joyner Foundation. Joyner, host of "The Tom Joyner Morning Show," is in the midst of raising more money for UVI scholarships on his nationally broadcast radio show, carried locally from 6 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday on KISS-101.3 FM.
UVI spokeswoman Patrice Johnson said that for 11 months out of each year, Joyner raises money for schools designated as Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The month of May is UVI's turn. "Every cent goes to students," she said.
Other HBCU schools receiving help from The Tom Joyner Foundation this year are Wiley College in Texas (January), Fort Valley State University in Georgia (February), Shaw University in North Carolina (March), Bowie State University in Maryland (April), Lincoln University in Missouri (June), North Carolina A&T (July), Cheyney University in Pennsylvania (August), Claflin University in South Carolina (September), Delaware State University (October), and Spelman College in Atlanta (November). December is open-donation month.
Joyner will be on St. Thomas on May 29 to help raise some more money for students — at UVI's "Lunch with Tom" scholarship benefit at Town Hall in Bluebeard's Castle Hotel. Tickets are $40 per person and are available at the Reichhold Center box office; call 693-1559 to reserve by charge card..
Any entity or individual wanting to help fund a UVI scholarship is asked to send a check to The Tom Joyner Foundation for UVI, University of the Virgin Islands, No. 2 John Brewers Bay, St. Thomas VI 00802, or to the Tom Joyner Foundation, PO Box 360495, Irving, Texas 75063-0495.
The university, meanwhile, also is raising scholarship money through a "Caps for Cash" campaign with Coca-Cola Enterprises. The company will donate $1,000 in scholarship money for each 6-foot tall bin filled with bottle caps from Coke products. Johnson said the caps can be from such beverages as Nestea, Minute Maid and Fruitopia, as well as Coke and Sprite.
Johnson said containers are set up at 30 locations on St. Thomas and St. Croix, and she expects some soon will go up on St. John.
Following are the scholarships and computer donations received through the Joyner Foundation, as well as the students who received them:
– Anheiser Busch scholarships – $2,500 each. Nancy Pendenque and Vidal Revillia, St. Croix campus; Andrea Keddo and Sean O'Loughlin, St. Thomas campus.
– Daimler Chrysler scholarships – $1,500 each. Tameka Duncan, Khalilah Gordon, Keesha Jones, Heike Nilgen, and Tamarah Gilbert, St. Croix campus; Paula Gumbs, Gul Sachwani- Daswani, Sidonia Swan, and Vernesia Douglas, St. Thomas campus.
– Denny's scholarships – $2,500 each. Roslyn Daniel, St. Croix campus; Wilma Espinosa, St. Thomas campus.
– Red Lobster scholarships – $2,500 each. George Southwell, St. Croix campus; Kerry Brookes, St. Thomas campus.
– Namaste Single Parent scholarships – $1,500 each. Rhalina LaPlace and Pamela Malone, St. Croix campus; Nicole Riviere and Mercedes Rodriquez, St. Thomas campus.
– Great Lakes Diabetic Supplies scholarships – $2,500 each. Joycelyn Pinney, St. Croix campus; Paglieri Batista-Michel, St. Thomas campus.
– Glaxo Kline scholarships – $2,500. Yasmine Salem and Amanda Williams, St. Thomas campus.
– Cingular scholarship – $2,500. Janice Simon, St. Croix campus.
– Nokia scholarship – $2,000. Marlene Turnbull, St. Thomas campus.
– Hewlett Packard gift of desktop computers. Demelza Lawrence and Maryjare Katowa, St. Croix campus; Chris Lansiquot and Ranan Mustafa, St. Thomas campus.
– Equal/Merisant gift of laptop computers. Deanna Cornelius and Shermaine Pogson, St. Croix campus; Carolyn Biscoe, Johnny Castor and Joseph Hodge, St. Thomas campus.
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