Elsinore Teens Receive Scholarships At Wildomar Charity's Awards

From Community Outreach Ministry:High school students JaCori Neal and Clarissa Fears were honored for their academic achievements at the First Annual Give Back Scholar Night hosted by the public charity Give Something Back (Give Back) on August 10. The event was held at the Doubletree Hotel in Claremont and hosted by Give Back, a new charity now located in California, among other states. Give Back awarded Neal, a sophomore at Temescal Canyon High School in Lake Elsinore, and Fears, a freshman at Elsinore High School in Wildomar pre-college mentoring and college scholarships. The two teens were chosen for their exceptional academic work and also because they met the charity’s criteria for the awards. Neal and Fears are both teens who have faced adversity in their lives such as foster care, homelessness, or the incarceration of a parent.

“Since we are new, we rely on community partnerships to help us reach our targeted population of foster youth, homeless youth and youth that have experienced the incarceration of a parent,” said Christine Brown. Brown is regional director of the charity’s San Bernardino office. Founded by Robert O. Carr, Give Back has provided over 1,500 scholarships to teens in seven different states.

Community Outreach Ministry (COM), a nonprofit organization created by Dr. Mona Davies and her husband Bob in 2000, was chosen as a valuable partner by Give Back because of the organization’s “importance to youth in [their] community,” according to Dr. Amy Young, Executive Director of the charity’s San Bernardino office. COM, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity, also raises money to provide numerous services and activities to girls and boys who are missing a parent from the home. Through its own scholarship fund, the charity offers camp activities, mentor protégé workshops and outreach services to children and their caregivers. COM also hosts an annual holiday event such as its Angel Tree Christmas party; a special occasion for youth who are given donated gifts, catered meals and the opportunity to interact with many community volunteers including firefighters and law enforcement personnel.

“While we were searching for community-based organizations that work with children of incarcerated parents,” Brown said. “We came across Community Outreach Ministry and the amazing work they are doing with youth,” adding that Give Back considered both Neal and Fears for their scholarships that involve selecting scholars early or as soon as the ninth grade so that the teens may benefit from college readiness programs, test preparatory classes, college campus visits, social events and mentoring services. Both Neal and Fears, who also engage in extracurricular activities with COM as in robotics, Christmas, camping, music, and volunteer services, will be provided with mentors who will support, challenge and guide the teens as they progress through high school.

The Give Back scholarships are awarded to deserving teens giving youth a second chance to be winners and champions,” said Dr. Davies who welcomes online donations for her nonprofit group at https://www.paypal.me/communityoutreachmin. All donations to COM are used to fund the organizations programs and services for children. For more information, call 951-698-7650 or email them at info@communityoutreachministry.org.

Image via Community Outreach Ministry