Sharing a Moment in the Lives of our Recipients, Families and Community. 

This is a way to get an inside view into our organization, our family.  We hope you enjoy these treasures.                  

Sydney Swain - North Meck Graduate of 2013 and Scholarship Recipient (written January 2014)

On June 12, 2013, I graduated from North Mecklenburg High School. On June 13, 2013, I boarded a plane to what I thought would be another summer of service work in the Dominican Republic before beginning my freshman year at NC State University. For the past three summers, I was fortunate enough to be sponsored to spend several weeks assisting in a number of humanitarian projects in the most impoverished areas of the country. Each time I returned I fell more and more in love with the incredible human beings I met in the Haitian refugee camps, the rural villages, and the poor campos. The Dominican Republic became my second home, where I was able to forget about my own troubles in Huntersville and just live a pure, fulfilling life.  Long story short, I ended up staying in the Dominican Republic until the end of December, taking a full college course load online, was involved in a girl empowerment organization, and worked on distributing gasification stoves to the Haitian refugee camps. It was by far the most challenging experience of my life, as my showers were always cold and sometimes in the ocean, the Internet was unreliable, the language barriers overwhelmed me, and I was completely on my own. But, I found happiness that I had never reached before, I learned more about myself and life than I would ever have in a classroom, and I left feeling like I truly made a difference in the world. Now, I am back in the United States and beginning my first semester at NCSU. I am studying international business and working very hard, as I am actually in a program that will send me to study in Reims, France for my junior and senior year! 

I know that my life sounds very crazy, but that is only because it really is. The Angels of '97 committee saw something in me before I had enough confidence to believe in myself. After receiving my scholarship, I realized that if other people can trust me to make the right decisions for my life, I should not hold myself back and take advantage of every opportunity that life throws at me. The money that I received helps tremendously, but I feel that Angels of '97 is more than just a scholarship foundation... it is a whole community of support. I lived in a foreign country by myself and moved to Raleigh without knowing anybody, but I have never felt that I am alone. I know that I have a whole community that believes in me and is investing in my future.

A Letter by Bradley Tyler - 2012
click here to read