Tucson-HABBJACH Dollars for Scholars vision is to see that as many local high school students attend the University of Arizona as possible. We currently award around $50,000 annually in scholarships ($1,000-$2,000 annually for up to five years) with a long-term goal of establishing an endowment of over one million dollars so we can continue to award at least $50,000 each year.
Celebrating 50 years of supporting local students attending the U of A in Tucson, AZ.
We have awarded over one million dollars in scholarships!
Vision
Supporting Tucson for over 50 years....
History
Picture a group of old friends, retired businessmen, sitting around their weekly luncheon table. The conversation is comfortable: mild jokes, the latest grandchild story, gentle joshing of one another. One member slips some papers from a folder and says: "That engineering student writes that he expects his grades to improve next semester." Another comment: "We really should require at least a 3.2 grade average from these renewal applicants (today it is 3.5)."
The portrait of gentlemen in their 70s and 80s, not all in the most vigorous of health, fretting about freshmen grades seems out of focus…unless the scene was the Monday lunch meeting of HABBJACH, the Tucson chapter of Dollars for Scholars. Those HABBJACH initials stand for the first names of the original founders: Harry Horowitz, Alex Baum, Bob Brickman, Ben Stein, Jack Nevins, Al Michaels, Charles Gordon and Harry Cohen.
HABBJACH raised money for scholarships for students who would attend the University of Arizona. Quietly, almost privately, the members gathered funds from their friends, their business acquaintances, various local companies…and their own pockets. Today, almost 50 years later, while it is all new members carrying on the tradition, both men and women, the vision is still the same. The luncheons are now only monthly but the conversation is usually about the same as it was decades ago.
Today
Dollars for Scholars meets monthly at Kingfisher to discuss upcoming events, listen to university speakers, as well as discuss its scholarship program. If you are interested in joining our board please contact us. We are especially looking for past scholarship winners to join our ranks. Thank you to Scholarship America for supporting our chapter and expanding our mission!
The Board gathers at the Annual Student Luncheon.
Board Members Betty Friedlander pictured (left) below with her Great Granddaughter, Logan Desberg and her Sister, Elaine Rippner
