Apply Now for 2013 Scholarships
Thanks to our generous donors we have $10,000 of scholarships to give away this year and we are now accepting applications. If you grew up Amish and are pursuing a college education, please apply before August 10th to be considered. Now, we’re all ex-Amish ourselves and we know it’s not part of the Amish culture to…
Read MoreAn Example of What Is Possible
Today I am very honored to be introducing Freeman Miller, M.D. who is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Du Pont Children’s Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware. His curriculum vitae is impressive. After he received his Bachelors at the University of Colorado, he entered medical school (also at the University of Colorado). He did his post-doctoral training…
Read MoreScholarships!
We are overjoyed to announce that we now have $12,000 to award in scholarships this year! Because of generous donations, we can offer awards in increments between $1,000 and $5,000. We hope to build an endowment for the Amish Descendant Scholarship Fund, so that eventually we can use the interest for awards instead of the…
Read MoreGoshen College Bulletin Story about Amish Descendent Scholarship Fund
An article featuring Naomi Kramer and her involvement in the Amish Descendent Scholarship Fund was printed in the Winter 2012/2013 issue of the Goshen College Bulletin. For the full article and associated images, you can go to: http://blog.goshen.edu/bulletin/ and navigate to page 22 and 23. It is a wonderful thing for the Amish Descendent Scholarship Fund…
Read MoreThe Paradox of Worldly Knowledge
I’ve been enjoying the gathering of stories from former Amish people who have acquired formal education after leaving their respective communities. Today I’ll share a story of a former Amish couple in Holmes County, Ohio: Wayne and LaVina Weaver. I first met them at the Amish Conference at the Young Center in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania in…
Read MoreRescued By an Amish Grandmother, Part 2
Last week I posted the first part of Freeman Kinsinger’s story, which I am continuing today. Also, for the personal connection I had with Freeman’s grandmother, see my post Memory Photos on my personal blog. Here is more of Freeman’s story. After my twenty-first birthday, I enrolled as a freshman at Eastern Mennonite College. My…
Read MoreRescued by an Amish Grandmother, Part 1
I would like to thank Emma Miller for her end-of-the year post. I understand why she is proud of starting the ADSFund. It speaks to her generous spirit that she would conceive of the idea at a bittersweet moment in her life — on the day of her own graduation. I would like to second…
Read MoreHappy New Year!
As the first year of ADSF pulls to a close, we’d like to give a special thank you to all of you for your donations and words of encouragement. We know there are many other charitable needs in the world and we sincerely appreciate all of you who contributed to ADSF. We created this fund…
Read MoreAn Irrepressible Spirit
Tonight I am introducing a new story — this one of Emma Gingerich, who I have been corresponding with for more than two years. She first got in touch with me about publishing her story. I am certain she will get her story published, for hers is an amazing one of someone who had the…
Read MoreMy Dream of Being a Nurse
Today we have an education story from Laura Miller Burress, who grew up in an Amish community in rural South Central Kentucky. As a little girl, while visiting her father in the hospital she developed an interest in nursing. Soon after her eighteenth birthday she left her Amish community and didn’t look back. While working at…
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