Frozen Food Industry Scholarship Contributions Top $1 Million

HARRISBURG, PA–Winding up 2004 with contributions of $67,875, the Frozen Food Industry Memorial Scholarship Foundation has topped $1 million in tuition financing. More than 700 students seeking careers in the food industry at 24 participating colleges and universities have benefited from industry contributions.

Joined in the conviction that the food industry is only as strong as the promising young people it attracts and develops, the scholarship program is sponsored by the Distinguished Order of Zerocrats and is supported by the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association, the American Frozen Food Institute and related industry associations.

The program’s growth can be effectively measured by looking back to its first 25 years ending in 1990 when solicitations, confined to Zerocrat membership produced a total of $73,375 in scholarship funding. It was in the following year when solicitations were expanded to the frozen food industry as a whole, that contributions took off. For the 13 years ending in 2003, contributions soared to $937,225. Only $62,775 was required last year to hit the $1 million mark.

Two major factors have propelled the program’s growth: strong across-the-board support by all segments of the industry plus a high renewal rate as reflected in the 90% of 2003 contributors who renewed their program support in 2004, according to Robert E. Rich, Jr. chairman of the Zerocrat committee.

This strong basis of commitment is further reflected in the 43% of the program’s 1995 contributors who continued their support in 2004 despite periods of soft economy and the attrition in industry membership due to mergers and acquisitions.

The Distinguished Order of Zerocrats was formed in 1954 to honor top officials of the industry and allied industry associations, as well as other individuals who have contributed significantly to the advancement of the frozen food industry. In 1965, a Scholarship Committee was formed to support the education of future industry leaders.

At its inception, the Scholarship Committee solicited funds solely from Zerocrat members. Upon the 1990 appointment of Bob Rich, Sr. as committee chairman, a fundamental change was made in the way funds were solicited. Bob’s first recommendation was to solicit contributions from the entire industry, dramatically increasing funding.

Scholarship contributions for 2004 were solicited under the direction of Bob Rich, Jr. current chairman of the Zerocrat Scholarship Committee.

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