Fourteen area high school seniors received $500 scholarships from the Country Mart and Price Chopper grocery stores this year. The scholarships were given to most of the students in a presentation this morning by Country Mart North manager Gary Andrews.
Andrews said that the former Reeble’s North and South grocery stores in past years each had given away three annual scholarships for $1,000, $500 and $250. Those awards were based on the amounts of groceries bought by holders of Country Mart who that had pledged their purchases to the students.
“They had to apply, sign up Country Mart card numbers, and the amount of dollars spent on those cards placed first, second, and third,” Andrews explained.
When the Reeble’s Country Mart stores, plus the Price Chopper store, were purchased last year by the Bob’s Super Saver family chain in Gardner, the scholarship program floated into limbo because the Country Mart cards were eliminated.
“The students and kids did their job,” Andrews said of those who applied. “Just unfortunately, with the transition, we kind of lost a way to track it.”
To compensate for the unintended lapse, he said, Bob’s owners stepped in with a solution: Give a $500 check to each eligible applicant.
Instead of giving a total of $3,500, as had been done, this year Bob’s gave away a total of $7,000 to 14 youngsters instead of six.
“And some of these kids wouldn’t have gotten a penny,” Andrews said.
Awards were given through all three stores owned by Bob’s in Emporia.
“It’s usually just the Country Marts, but we are bringing Price Chopper into it as well, because we’re one now,” Andrews said.
Those who received scholarships were: Megan Woods, Brianna Sage and Trey Stead, all of Olpe High School; Cody Barrett, Hartford High School; Farren Preisner, Northern Heights High School; and Jamie Hollern, Tyler Anliker, Breanna Williams, Briana Alvarado, Harrison Stone, Kylie Miller, LeAnn Mason and Jessica Decker, all of Emporia High School.