Rockford foundation awards students for making a difference in their community

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Harkins Community Memorial Foundation held its annual scholarship night on Friday.

Marva Brown runs the foundation in honor of her late grandson James Lesley Harkins. She continues to carry the memory of his name by helping the next generation.

“[I] wanted to further his memory by honoring students and that’s what we are doing tonight,” said Brown.

“I just want to see our kids strive because if we don’t do something to help our kids out and keep them out of the streets, we don’t have much of a world,” said Brown.

Five students in the Forest City were honored with a scholarship for their hard work in the community. Each one of them was given scholarship money along with a brand-new laptop.

Nominees said even though they do not do it for the thanks it is a great honor.

“When you put a lot of work into something and you feel like, I guess put all the extra energy into something and then see that like it is getting showcase or like broadcast and other people can see the good that you’re doing, especially like you said, a lot of times you don’t feel like you’re doing enough and it shows that you are at least contributing a little bit to helping out in our community,” said Nia Hodges.

Hodges was one of those nominees and she has been working with state representative Maurice West’s Political Director Tamir Bell on getting younger people involved in the election process.

“We started working on a campaign to get young kids educated and registered to vote as we have another election coming through,” said Hodges.

Asiah Pierce said people being involved in church, school and the area is not just important as a whole, but to themselves as well.

“It gets me to be more independent and confident to help out in my school,” said Pierce.

The foundation started back in 2004 and they also do funeral assistance for families that lose a child.

If you are interested in donating to the foundation or getting involved click here .

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