WHO CAN APPLY

Residents of northern Berkshire County (Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg, Florida, Hancock, Lanesborough, New Ashford, North Adams, Savoy, Williamstown) who plan to further their health care education and qualifications. Preference will be given to adults currently working in a health care field, but if no such applicants come forward in a given year, scholarship assistance may be given to high school seniors going to school for studies in a health-related field.

SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION

This scholarship began in 1972, when the residents of the Sweet Brook nursing home voted to give a nurse’s aide $100 from the money they had collected from selling handmade craft items. The grant provided textbooks needed to allow the aide to continue in her LPN program.

Every year thereafter, scholarships were given to staff members to pursue careers in health care. Residents raised money through their annual crafts fair and families donated funds in memory of loved ones. Most donations were designated for one-time grants, but some families donated large amounts of money to establish annual scholarships:

• Dorothy LeFebreve, a longtime activities director at Sweet Brook
• Judge Ernest H. Rosasco, a founding member of Sweet Brook and a longtime treasurer
• Ray Norcorss, a longtime volunteer
• Dagmar Dudley, a resident whose husband willed Sweet Brook a bequest to support the scholarship program

The scholarship fund was brought to Berkshire Taconic in 1997.

The Sweet Brook Scholarship primarily supports adults currently working in a health care field to further their health care education and qualifications. If, in a given year, no such eligible candidate applies, the scholarship will be awarded to a graduating high school senior for studies in a health-related field.