Community Foundation Awards First Aimée Belle Harper Scholarship

August 3, 2009: The Community Foundation of Frederick County is pleased to announce that Chelsea Reese of Thurmont has been awarded the first Aimeé Belle Harper Scholarship.

Having attended Frederick Community College since graduating from Catoctin High School in 2007, Chelsea will begin her studies at Hood College this fall, majoring in English. She plans to become a high school English teacher.

The Aimeé Belle Harper Scholarship Fund was created by St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church of Utica, Maryland, to honor the memory of the late Aimeé Bell Harper. A long-time teacher and librarian in Montgomery County schools, Aimeé Bell Harper was a devoted member of St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church where she taught Sunday school and helped to create its beautiful library, still in use today some 40 years later. Through her estate provisions, she left a bequest to the Church to provide scholarships to its members, and the Church then turned to the Community Foundation’s guidance and expertise to establish the Fund in accordance with her wishes.

“We are thrilled that Chelsea is the first person to be awarded The Aimeé Bell Harper Scholarship,” says Dr. Raymond Ediger, a member of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Utica. “We couldn’t ask for a better first recipient.”

Since 1986, generous citizens have turned to the Community Foundation to establish charitable funds that award scholarships to deserving students and grants to area nonprofit organizations. To date, more than $22 million has been awarded throughout Frederick County. For additional information about The Aimeé Belle Harper Scholarship Fund, or any of the 600+ funds held by the Community Foundation, call 301.695.7660.