What Is This Charity?
With its policy of open admission, at Connecticut State Community College – Manchester (formerly known as Manchester Community College) all students—of any age—who possess the desire to pursue a higher education are welcome. For many students, however, the desire to learn is not enough to get them through school doors.
Scholarships, like the MCC Retiree Endowed Scholarship Fund in Memory of Linda Coons, fill the gap, enabling more students to follow their curiosity to an education and then a career that allows them to:
- Pursue their interests
- Provide for themselves and their family
- Pay back to their community, through the re-investment of their energy and/or money
Connecticut State Community College – Manchester • Open-Access Higher Education
Manchester Community College Retiree Endowed Scholarship Fund in Memory of Linda Coons
Why OREE Values This Charity
OREE and the Coons family believe in the power of a higher education to lift students and their families up and out of poverty.
Colleges teach transferrable skills that are relevant to all fields, from habits of mind like reflection and revision, to “soft skills” like time management, conflict resolution, and adaptability; to ever-evolving technical know-how.
The Coons family has felt this power first-hand:
- Mary Coons’ Connecticut State Community College – Manchester degree opened the door to a fulfilling career as a paraprofessional in West Hartford Public Schools.
- OREE founder William Howard Coons III’s mother spent her career as a professor at Connecticut State Community College – Manchester.
What brought Linda Coons joy was building up the skills of Connecticut culinary arts students, from teaching the patience required to treat ingredients properly to organizing competitions to test her students’ acumen. When she died, she wanted her worldly wealth to go towards charting a path for others to achieve their dreams.
The Impact of This Charity
The MCC Retiree Endowed Scholarship Fund in Memory of Linda Coons is part of the MCC Foundation. In the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the Foundation received $1.1M in gifts, resulting in 847 scholarships to 832 students. Several MCC retirees contributed to the fund in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, helping to ensure its continued life.
