Scholarship Fund holds annual fundraiser

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By Alex Oliveira
Hometown Weekly Reporter

On Saturday night, the Walpole Scholarship Fund (WSF) hosted its annual fundraiser at the German-American Club of Walpole. With a 38 eight team cornhole tournament, a silent auction, and German beers flowing from the taps, Walpole residents enjoyed a night out together, with all proceeds going towards the WSF.

As “Dancing in the Dark” pounded out of the speakers, 38 teams competed for the title across sixteen cornhole boards laid out in the ballroom. Over in the German-timbered barroom, guests laughed about, refilling their steins of Paulaner, Hofbräu, and Bud Light beer, and checking out the many silent auction items, which ranged from cases of wine and whiskey to signed sports memorabilia and beauty salon gift cards.

“This is our big fundraiser of the year,” said WSF President Denise Lynch. “We’re an organization right in this community that gives money to the community, so we wanted to have an event that brought the community together. So, this is a real Walpole community event, full of local people.”

Since the WSF was started in 1984, over 2,800 local students have been awarded scholarships valued over $3.6 million dollars. The scholarships go to Walpole students who are either just about to graduate from high school, or are within their first years of college. Last year, 120 students received around $200,000 in scholarships. Funds are raised from Walpole throughout the year, with one large annual event to raise funds and spread awareness of the WSF throughout the community. This is the second year the WSF has held a cornhole tournament and party for their annual fundraiser event.

“This is the biggest fundraiser we do each year,” said WSF trustee Ted Witherell, “When we did this last year, we had about 160 people and raised about $30,000. We did just about the same this year.”

The Boylston Schul-Verein German-American Club opened their space to the WSF for no charge.

“It’s so kind of them to give us this space for free, they do it as a donation to the fund,” said Lynch.

The night was a rollicking success. Beanbags and laughter flew through the air, empty and full glasses of beer covered the table tops, and thousands of dollars were raised to help put local students through college.