Learn More Here: Belvedere Scholarships | 2023 | CHARLEVOIX COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION | Belvedere Club Archives (belvederearchive.club)
During the summer of 1997, a small group met on the patio at the Golf Clubhouse. The meeting had been called by Ann Mullen, wife of the Club President at the time, Butch. A new Special Member of the Golf Club, Bob Klein, had an idea.
Along with Butch, Ann, and Bob Klein, in attendance were fellow Belvedere Club Member Charlie Kinnaird, former Belvedere Club Warden Tom Conlan, and Charlevoix County Community Foundation Director Bob Tambellini.
The idea was to create a fund to help the young people who served the Club Members so well during their summer stay in Charlevoix.
The Committee would raise sufficient funds to award scholarships that could be renewed for up to four years to make a significant contribution toward tuition for our deserving young students.
Bob Klein offered seed money to get the fund off the ground. Ann became the first Scholarship Fund Committee Chair, and Tom and Bob Tambellini took the ball and began running.
That first year, the funds grew as the first intended recipients, Dan Pardee and Bob Sommerfeld, excellent students, were awarded full Evans Scholarships through the efforts of many Belvedere Golf Club Members and thus didn’t need the tuition awards from our fledgling fund.
The Committee realized that it would take some time to build an endowment with sufficient interest earned to fund the scholarships at the intended level.
Two funds were therefore created.
The first was an endowment fund to be allowed to grow for the future.
The second, a grant-making fund, would allow direct distribution of awards. Both funds would be administered by the CCCF to allow tax-deductible contributions. Tom was appointed permanent Chair of the Selection Committee to provide a legal separation of duties for tax purposes from the Belvedere Club Members who contribute.
The next year, the Committee expanded the pool of eligible students to include employees of both the Belvedere Club and the Belvedere Golf Club as well as children of our full-time staff at both Clubs. As Chair of the Selection Committee, Tom’s children were not eligible, nor were children of Belvedere Club or Belvedere Golf Club Members.
Subsequent Belvedere Scholarship Committee Chairs Burton Hales, Jack Syer, Mike McDonnell and now Marita Parrish continued excellent management of the program, always under the watchful eye of David Gray, General Manager and the Charlevoix County Community Foundation.
What began with a small meeting on the Golf Clubhouse patio has become a Charlevoix tradition. We will always appreciate all of the hard work and contributions made by the late Ann Mullen, the late Burton Hales, and the late Charlie Kinnaird toward the success of this wonderful Scholarship Fund.
The Fund has allowed us to recruit the best and the brightest students to man our many Club programs: Gang, Food and Beverage, the Pro Shop, the office, and tennis, just to name a few.
As of this year’s convocation, the Fund has awarded over $1,000,000 to over 120 students, all of whom are listed in this program. The efforts of the Belvedere Club family live on in the lives of the young people who have spent their summers in service to our Club.
2023 Belvedere Scholarship Fund Committee
Marita Parrish, Chair
Christine Barrett, William Bloom, Mary Carr Deane, Adele Dilschneider, Cathy Howe, Donna Kuhn, Mary Larimer, Sunnie Hellman, and Martha Hales Patterson.
DONATION INFORMATION:
Those wishing to donate may contact the Belvedere Club Office.
P.O. Box 218
512 Belvedere Avenue
Charlevoix, MI 49720
Belvedere Club | Belvedere Golf Club
Phone: (231) 547-2512 | Fax: (231) 547-0311
Website: www.thebelvedereclub.org
E-Mail: GM@belvedereclub.net
