Fundraiser Generates Thousands for Women’s Scholarship

Guests gather at the Lovers for Learning dinner and auction in the Campus Union Building. The Chase Photo: Gabrielle Smith
The annual Lovers for Learning dinner and dessert auction took place in the Campus Union
Building at Eastern New Mexico University on Saturday, Feb. 8.
The event, presented by ENMU Women, was dedicated to raising money to support women who
are re-entering college after at least a semester’s break. The jazz music provided by the Eastern
New Mexico University Jazz Ensemble kept things upbeat as guests arrived. In order to raise
money for the scholarships, this event consisted of a live and silent dessert auction. As people
gathered and socialized, they had the opportunity to scope out the 14 live auction items and
potentially make a bid on the 15 silent auction items as well. The desserts were donated by the
community and ENMU culinary arts students.
The auction paid off, having brought in $3,278 with an added $97 in donations. This brought the
total amount raised from the night to $3,375—a decrease from last year’s $3,899. The treasurer
and the committee chair of the organization, Jessica Small, mentioned this scholarship usually
supports two students at a time and is divided between the two awarded applicants.
“Starting a scholarship program first came up in 1952 and again unsuccessfully in 1957,” said
Vee Lucas, president of ENMU Women. “It was decided by the group to continue giving excess
funds to the loan fund at that time.” She mentioned it wasn’t until 1980 that the scholarship
program was discussed again, and that the official scholarship guidelines were approved on April
18, 1981. The following year, the first scholarships were awarded to women in need of a helping
hand to further their education.
This year, the event was promoted through announcements on the radio, flyers around town, an
advertisement in the Roosevelt Review and on social media. The organization sold 80 tickets
with 77 showing up to the event, which was an increase from last year. Last year, the
organization sold 92 tickets, but only had 76 show up to the event.