The year 2001 marks the 40″1 anniversary of the Dolphin Scholarship Foundation. To commemorate the 40111 anniversary, I will be writing articles for the next several issues as a way to keep the history alive, to share some interesting facts, discuss the future goals, describe the selection process, highlight the typical scholar and explain now very important your help is in ensuring that this wonderful foundation continues to grow for many more years.
In 1961 when Vice Admiral Grenfell was the first Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic Fleet (COMSUBLANT), his wife, Martha, along with a small group of other submarine officers’ wives, started what is now DSF. That one $350 scholarship to an officer’s son in 1961 has grown to 131 scholarships of$3,000 each to both officer and enlisted children and stepchildren of qualifying applicants.
I became the 16m President of DSF in July 2000. As set forth in the bylaws of the foundation, the wife of the current COMSUB-LANT is always the President. Since July 2000, I have had the opportunity to meet with submarine flag and major commanders’ wives and their husbands at various conferences. I have also met with small groups of junior officers’ wives, ombudsmen, COB’s wives, as well as with the Chiefs of the Atlantic Submarine Force. One of my goals has been to have one or two key staff personnel from the DSF office travel with me to different locations within the Submarine Force so we can inform as many people as possible about the foundation, how it has grown from two small rooms above the kitchen in the admiral’s home to a professionally run office with a staff of five paid employees and myself.
What I have realized since July 2000, is how little most people, including senior officers and chiefs, know about DSF, the history, the goals, how much money we raise and spend in our pursuit of educating submarine college bound children and stepchildren and how much more we need to raise in order to reach our projected goals. DSF is a unique scholarship with a long history to be proud of. It is not funded or supported by the Navy or the Submarine Force. DSF is a private foundation that is the very best within the military communities today because submarine wives and family members, as well as private donors and kind individuals have contributed year after year. With your continued support, DSF’s commitment to our scholars will remain strong. We have a challenging goal of 200 scholars by 2009. We also have a goal of finding corporations and foundations to contribute to our foundation so we can reach the goal of educating 200 scholars by 2009. I hope you all will be my eyes and ears. The staff and I are looking for good ideas and welcome your suggestions.
In the coming months, I will explain where the name came from, talk about expanding the DSF name, explain our goal of finding corporation and foundations to contribute money to the foundation, describe the tireless efforts of the past presidents, our Board of Directors and the staff, introduce you to the fabulous, priceless scholars and explain the selection process we use to select them. I am asking you all to be a part of the future growth and thank you for what you do to help our Dolphin Scholarship Foundation.
