Tina Collyer Memorial Scholarship Fund

This is one of my favorite pictures of Tina. It was taken at my house in Port St. John, when Tina was training for her EMT exam. We had a lot of fun that day, setting up equipment and going through all the physical tests she had to do in the exam. We had to set up a pulley high up so she could lift a weight, and I think we put a ladder on top of the truck to put the pulley over a branch in a tree. One of the funniest times was when Tina had to drag me a distance like she was pulling me out of a fire. We laughed a lot that day.

The scholarship being created at Valencia Community College in Tina's name will be an annual gift to a deserving Explorer entering the EMT program. In order to establish the scholarship, $3,000 must be donated to the Valencia Foundation in memory of Tina. The Foundation will earmark all the donations made in Tina's name, and the scholarship will be official after the total donation amount reaches $3,000 and all the appropriate paperwork is completed. If for some reason donations do not reach $3,000, the money will still be given to students in Tina's memory.

After I get some more information from the Valencia Foundation to confirm all of this (so far everything has been verbal), I will put the link up here to make an online donation or send in a donation, and I will also send out some emails in an effort to get donations. We will create a scholarship committee to determine student selection criteria, to set policies, and to select recipients. We may also talk about other ways to raise money for the scholarship fund if that becomes necessary.

Tina died one year ago. We all miss her. I love reading these posts - it makes me feel less alone in how much I miss her. Big hugs to all of you.