Pre-K scholarships through Greater Pike help local families

Five scholarships, four families, and two schools are the ingredients that went into helping young children and their families during a difficult time.

A total of five children are the most recent recipients of needed pre-K scholarships with funding from Greater Pike Community Foundation.

Lucia Shrag, an essential worker at Milford’s Key Food Supermarket, is now able to send her son Robert to the 2020 summer Pre-K program at the Center for Developmental Disabilities (CDD) in Milford. Lucia noted Robert, who is mildly autistic, was doing very well before the pandemic but started regressing during quarantine.

“Our family is beyond grateful,” she said. “There is no way we could have afforded this. It was a blessing, He is doing so much better now at CDD.”

Jaclyn and Donald Strofe of Dingmans Ferry will also be sending their daughters, Julee-Anna and Skylar, to the CDD summer pre-K program.

In addition, two scholarships were awarded to pre-K students for the 2020-21 school year at Green Trees Early Learning Center. Christen Conroy’s son Justin is one of the recipients. Christen is a single mother working at Newton Medical Center.

“I am also in school full time to become a registered nurse,” Conroy said. “This scholarship is important to me because it has allowed both Justin and I to continue our education. We are both very grateful.”

Contributions from The Dime Bank and Highmark Life Insurance Company through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit program of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development made the scholarships possible. Department of Community and Economic Development made the scholarships possible.

Greater Pike said all pre-K scholarship funds for the 2020-21 school year have been awarded and are helping deserving families.