Deb Eldridge, who is a member of the White Mountain Rotary Club, was recently named by her employer, National Bank of Arizona, as Volunteer of the Quarter. With that honor came the right to designate a charity to receive $250.00 We thank Deb for naming The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona. In expressing our appreciation, we asked Deb to share a little bit about how she made that decision. This was her response:If I had to pick a specific reason why I chose The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona to receive my donated funds, I would not hesitate to say it is because of tenacity.
Growing up in a family of seven kids, raised by a very strong single mother, it was not really an option discussed to go to college, but when my single friends started talking about college, I decided that even myself as a single mother, I was going to go. It may sound strange, but I am very proud that it may have taken me 13 years to get my Bachelor’s Degree from Arizona State University, but I never gave up.
Working full time, raising two kids, and going to school at night to take a course or two each semester was hard, but I had amazing support and encouragement from my family. It is not really surprising then that I would also return to college 17 years later to receive my MBA from the W P Carey Executive Management program at Arizona State University. That continued educational pursuit, opened doors I could never have imagined as I climbed the corporate ladder in my professional life.
So I guess It is really no wonder why I chose the donation from National Bank of Arizona to go to the Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona specifically because I want to enable that student that has the desire, the passion, and of course the tenacity, to not give up and keep going to make their dreams come true.