With each year that passes, the Iowa Grocers Education Foundation gets stronger and stronger through the generous donations and hard work contributors instill into its scholarship endowment fund. It was difficult to imagine things could get any better following a record setting year in 2006 that produced more than $154,000 in scholarship money. But it did in 2007 with a grand total of $157,300 being raised during the last year.

The biggest money maker of all was once again the IGEF Scholarship Golf Classic, which brought in $75,000. Creeping up on its heels the last few years, however, has been the Iowa Grocery Industry Association Convention Auction and Raffle that also set a new record in 2007. Exceeding its 2006 total by nearly $10,000, the auction and raffle generated $63,715 this past July.

Also helping fund the endowment were traditional contributors Newman’s Own ($10,000), Kraft Foods ($2,500), General Mills ($2,400) and Mueller-Yurgae Associates ($1,500). Mueller-Yurgae also assisted in organizing the Early Bird Golf Classic at the IGIA Convention, netting $1,185 for the fund. And an extra gift was provided this year by former Fareway Stores, Inc. CEO Bob Cramer, who donated the $1,000 he won during the IGIA Golf Tournament Putting Contest that was sponsored by Jerry Sullivan and Sean Mullane of Principal Financial Group.

The Iowa Grocers Education Foundation received over 350 applications for the 85 scholarships that were awarded this past year. The IGEF awarded $27,750 in scholarship money itself to 25 students who are at least part-time employees for an IGIA member company or the children of a full-time employee working for an IGIA member. Special IGEF scholarships included three F.W. and Leola Beckwith awards as well as one Mary I. Fitzgerald and one Robert Carper scholarship.

The IGEF was also delighted to award 60 “Piggyback” scholarships to employees working for IGIA member companies that set money aside to assist students within their organizations. The Grocery Manufacturers Association awarded two scholarships – one being the Ken Uglum Memorial Scholarship. Gary’s Foods presented two Gary & Lucy Dietrich Scholarships, and Scott’s Foods rewarded two of its own employees with scholarships. Perishable Distributors of Iowa also provided four awards while Fareway Stores passed down 50 scholarships of $1,500 through the Beckwith Foundation.