Rotary Club of Blue Bell raises $12,000 for MCCC’s Student Veterans

By Matthew Moorhead
The Rotary Club of Blue Bell raised $12,000 for Montgomery County Community College’s student veterans at its recent 10th Annual Golf Outing. From left: Dana Santangelo, Germantown Title Company (event sponsor); David Heins, Rotary Club of Blue Bell; Matthew Benko, MCCC Manager of Veterans Services; and Nick Lauro, Lauro Painting (event sponsor).

The Rotary Club of Blue Bell raised $12,000 for Montgomery County Community College’s student veterans at its recent 10th Annual Golf Outing. From left: Dana Santangelo, Germantown Title Company (event sponsor); David Heins, Rotary Club of Blue Bell; Matthew Benko, MCCC Manager of Veterans Services; and Nick Lauro, Lauro Painting (event sponsor).

The Rotary Club of Blue Bell raised $12,000 for Montgomery County Community College’s Veterans Resource Center at its recent 10th Annual Golf Outing.

The donation will help fund services and resources that the Veterans Resource Center offers to student veterans. This includes the annual Mindfulness Retreat on the Appalachian Trail, where student veterans build relationships and engage in various activities such as mediation, hiking and group discussions.

Matthew Benko, Manager of Veterans Services, is grateful for the support of the Rotary Club of Blue Bell and is eager to use the donation to benefit student veterans.

 “We are very thankful and appreciative for the Rotary Club of Blue Bell’s commitment to supporting veterans,” he said. “The donation will provide resources to help veterans and their families transition to MCCC by offering scholarships, outreach events and alleviating other costs of attending programs associated with enrollment at MCCC.”

The Veterans Resource Center works with the campus and community to provide assistance to help veterans transition to college life, including emergency assistance funding, academic help and access to local, state and federal resources. The Center builds a community for veterans through annual retreats, workshops and events.

Benko intends to continue working with the Rotary Club of Blue Bell to build connections for the student veterans.

“We look forward to not only saying thanks but putting our thanks into action,” he said. “We look forward to connecting our veteran students and the MCCC campus to the Rotary Club Blue Bell.”

The Rotary Club of Blue Bell’s 10th Annual Golf Outing, organized by member David Heins, featured an 18-hole round of golf as well as a golf clinic. Veteran students from MCCC, as well as staff and faculty of the College, joined Rotary Club members at the fundraising event.