Tanager Place Bridge to the Future scholarship surpasses $350K in gifts

CEDAR RAPIDS — A scholarship awarded from Tanager Place is enabling Charles Cherry to “flourish” at culinary school in Texas.

Consuelo Steel-Cherry, mother to Cherry, 20, said it’s “really huge” in helping Cherry afford housing, textbooks and cover a small portion of his tuition at Escoffier School of Culinary Arts.

The scholarship program called Bridge to The Future surpassed $350,000 in gifts this year, bolstering the dreams of 44 young adults in Eastern Iowa.

Sixteen of those students — including Cherry — have received the scholarship multiple times. The average annual award amount per recipient is $5,040.

To apply for the scholarship, students need to have been a Tanager Place client for a minimum of six months within the last two calendar years.

Tanager Place is a nonprofit in Cedar Rapids that provides services to children and families challenged by social, behavioral and psychological needs. It works with more than 5,000 children a year in Linn and Johnson counties and in southeast Iowa.

The Bridge to The Future scholarship was borne out of an anonymous $1 million gift to Tanager Place in 2019. This provides $60,000 annually for the scholarship program in perpetuity.

This year, leaders at Tanager Place reached their goal of giving out $100,000 in scholarships, in part with the help of an additional donor who is gifting $40,000 a year for the next three years to the scholarship program.

Melissa Walker, director of philanthropy at Tanager Place, said she hopes the scholarship can continue to grow with more people in the community contributing.

“This is one more way these young adults are receiving a message that they matter, their stories matter and they are worthy of being celebrated,” Walker said.

“Education helps us fulfill our calling, build connection, create a sense of belonging in our community and recognize personal efficacy,” Walker said. “The scholarship is a really important piece of that journey for so many people.”

Some Bridge to The Future scholarship recipients might not meet the traditional guidelines of other scholarships, such as a 4.0 grade-point average and involvement in an array of extracurricular activities.

“Their accomplishments might look really different. It might be overcoming their own mental health challenges, working through significant trauma, building interpersonal resilience or something else that doesn’t show up on an ACT score,” Walker said. “These are kids who are working incredibly hard and deserve to have an opportunity to be recognized for their accomplishments.”

The scholarships can be used to pay for books, tools and equipment and other course material, a certification or licensure fee and room and board costs.

Scholarships awards are based on financial need, tuition costs and the scholarship committee’s conclusions as to the applicant’s ability or potential to articulate and accomplish their academic plans and goals.

Scholarship recipients are eligible to reapply for additional funding as they pursue their educational goals.

Funding helps students achieve dreams

Cherry began receiving services from Tanager Place as a middle school student at Tanager Place’s LGBTQ+ Youth Center, a safe and confidential environment for LGBTQ+ youth, families, and allies. Programs at the Center include support groups, special art offerings, mentoring programs, Pride Café, community service, health initiative classes, parent workshops, financial literacy, tutoring and career exploration.

Steel-Cherry, who lives in Hiawatha, said she is “really proud” of her son. The LGBTQ+ Youth Center was a place where he felt he could comfortably be himself and express his feelings, she said.

Cherry “struggled in middle school to find a place where he feels safe. The Center gave him that,” Steel-Cherry said.

Steel-Cherry said her son began cooking at age 6. Some of the more adventurous dishes he’s made for his family include rabbit and duck.

Cherry wants to open a fine dining restaurant in Eastern Iowa someday, his mother said. But first, he needs to gain more experience.

“He’s really good at taking nothing and turning it into something,” Steel-Cherry said.

Joy Ringwald, 21, has received the Bridge to the Future scholarship several times. It’s helping her pursue her degree in music therapy at Wartburg College in Waverly.

Ringwald began receiving school-based therapy services from Tanager Place in middle school. Always musical, Ringwald said she learned about music therapy from Tanager, although she herself wasn’t in music therapy.

“I’ve always been interested in going into the medical field or being a music teacher,” Ringwald said. “Music therapy is the best of both worlds.”

Ringwald encourages anyone interested to seek therapy. “You don’t have to be severely depressed” to go to therapy, she said.

Ringwald said when she first started struggling with her mental health, her dad put it this way: When you’re stuck in the mud, you need someone with a branch to pull you out.

Just because mental health isn’t a physical ailment “doesn’t mean it isn’t just as painful as physical pain,” Ringwald said.

How to apply

To be eligible for a Bridge to the Future Scholarship, a student must:

Applications open each spring. Learn more about the scholarship online at tanagerplace.org/bridge-to-the-future-scholarship.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com