CLEVELAND, June 3 — BLET members are reminded of two important scholarship deadlines that are quickly approaching. Deadline for the BLET’s Eastern Union Meeting Association (EUMA) scholarship program is June 15, and deadline for Our Brothers Keeper Foundation’s (OBKF) scholarship is also June 6.
Eastern Union Meeting Association (EUMA)
The Eastern Union Meeting Association awards one $2,000 Robert Pentland Memorial Scholarship and several other $1,000 scholarships each year based on academic excellence and financial need. Only children of BLET members (living or deceased) belonging to divisions participating in the EUMA are eligible to apply. Division must be square on the books for the child to qualify. States represented in EUMA are Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington D.C., and West Virgina.
The 2008 EUMA deadline is June 15, 2008. Send completed applications to:
Jim Louis, EUMA Sec.-Treas.
257 Forbes Ave.
Tonawanda, NY 14150
Applications are available for download by clicking here:
https://www.ble-t.org/pr/pdf/eumasch.pdf
OBKF Scholarships
Our Brothers Keeper Foundation (OBKF) is planning to award four $1,000 scholarships in 2008 to family members of seriously injured railroad workers. One winner will be awarded a scholarship from each of the four geographic regions represented by the BLET regional meetings — Eastern Union Meeting Association (EUMA), Southeastern Meeting Association (SMA), International Western Convention (IWC), and Southwestern Convention Meeting (SWCM). The SMA is the first regional meeting of 2008, and the deadline for application is May 15.
OBKF is a 501(c)(3) non profit organization that provides consultation, referral and financial assistance to aid employees of the railroad industry and their families in times of hardship arising from accidents and injuries that occur within the scope of the worker’s railroad employment.
In terms of basic eligibility requirements, applicants must:
• Be a spouse, daughter or son of a seriously injured railroad worker;
• Complete all sections of the application form and mail it to the designated address, no less than thirty (30) days prior to starting date for the BLET Regional Meeting territory in which the injured worker is employed; and
• Provide all supporting documents required by the application form, including proof of enrollment in an accredited college, technical, or trade school.
Additional information is provided on the application form, which is available on the BLET web site.
The deadline for each scholarship is 30 days prior to the start of the BLET regional meetings:
• EUMA begins July 6, and the OBKF deadline is June 6;
• IWC begins August 17, and the OBKF deadline is July 17; and
• SWCM begins September 14, and the OBKF deadline is August 14.
Since the majority of the support for OBKF’s outreach efforts currently comes from engineers and train service employees, family members of these crafts will be given preference. All scholarship applications will be carefully reviewed. Scholarship awards are to be based on need and fulfillment of applicant requirements.
A copy of the application form is available here:
https://www.ble-t.org/pr/pdf/OBKFscholarship2008.pdf
In 2006, the last year for which complete statistics are available, Class I railroads reported almost 300 Category I & II casualties. These are on-the-job deaths or injuries so serious that they frequently result in permanent disabilities to railroad workers. These workers and their families are often left without the resources needed to cover everyday living expenses, much less provide tuition for family members who need, or would like, to further their education. OBKF is hoping to assist these families realize the goal of achieving higher education.