The five winners of the first annual Monk’s Home Improvements Service Scholarship were each awarded their $2,000 scholarship at the Monk’s Home Improvements headquarters in Morristown, NJ on May 20th.
Erica Lindsey, Basking Ridge native and 2014 graduate of Ridge High School, was one of the scholarship winners. Erica is the President of the Ridge HS chapter of Habitat for Humanity, as well as the President of the Raritan Valley Habitat for Humanity county chapter’s Youth Council. She has worked on-site as well as running fundraisers for the organization. Erica is also in her 5th year as an Assistant Coach of the YMCA-sponsored program, Girls on the Run. The program helps elementary school girls improve their self-esteem as well as their physical fitness.
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Erica attended the awards ceremony with her parents. Erica explained, “I’m going to Boston College…and they have a campus chapter of Habitat. One thing that I’d really like to do is...the Collegiate Challenge where you build a home in one week over Spring or Summer Break." She added, "It would be cool to see it all come together.”
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Kyle Harcourt, also a Ridge HS graduate and scholarship winner attended the ceremony with his mother. Kyle has been a volunteer firefighter with the Liberty Corner Fire Company for the past two and a half years. He has answered over 350 calls during his service tenure. Kyle has trained to be a member of the firefighter assist search team (to save trapped firefighters) and was elected Junior Captain by his peers.
Kyle shared, “I’ve spent over 400 hours training to become a firefighter. I became the Junior Captain when I was seventeen. When I turned 18 I became an interior firefighter, doing everything that no one wants to see, but has to be done." Kyle explained, "Through becoming a firefighter, I’ve become a part of a brotherhood.”
“People don’t choose to not give back, they fail to choose to give back”, said Ty Monk, founder of Monk’s Home Improvements. “In the coming years you will need to make an active decision to give back, instead of becoming someone who used to give back. I hope that you will continue making the choice to serve, and to continue to lead and inspire others with your actions.”
The other three local winners reside in Madison, Warren and Chester, NJ. Their collective community service efforts include tutoring, working for TOPSoccer and S.C.E.E.P., among other service efforts. These young winners have shown a long-term commitment to the organizations that they’ve served and are dedicated to improving their communities.
Even though this was the first year of the scholarship, it was highly competitive. Applications were received from students across 16 different towns, attending 22 different high schools and universities.
To read more about the winners and their service endeavors, visit MonksHomeImprovements.com/scholarship
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Monk’s Home Improvements is a family-owned home improvements company based at 1095 Mount Kemble Ave in Morristown, NJ. Monk’s has been in business since 2007 providing home improvement services including painting, carpentry, tiling, floor refinishing and kitchen & bath remodeling. Monk’s will be opening a new Kitchen and Bath Design Studio in their Morristown location. Customers will be able to design and shop for a remodeling project all in one place.
