Four years ago, Trinity Health Foundation was made aware of the projected shortage of 1,000,000 nurses in the United States. The Foundation board recognized the devastating impact on health and wellness that the nursing shortage could cause. As a result, the Foundation revised and expanded its Nursing Scholarship Program to attract more individuals to the profession of nursing. We shared our plans with you, our donors, and you responded beyond our expectations!

Thanks to your generosity, 43 scholarships worth a total of $145,000 have been given to deserving nursing students. However, the impact of the donations to the Nursing Scholarship Endowment Fund do not end with helping the students while they are in Nursing School.

Several scholarship recipients have now completed their nursing education and are employed as nurses.  A few of these individuals have reflected upon how receiving a scholarship has affected their lives:

“I am beyond grateful for the help you have given me and others through your gifts to the Trinity Health Foundation scholarship fund. Your generosity has allowed me to make my goals a reality. I am blessed every day to have a career I love, in a facility that has helped me grow, and to serve the community I call home. Thank you for your help!” – Elyssa Handlen

“Being a recipient of the Trinity Health Foundation scholarship helped me in multiple ways. First, it alleviated part of the stress associated with paying for my education and allowed me to focus more on my studies and clinicals. Following graduation, I realized that this scholarship provided me with the opportunity to network and connect with many different people in Trinity Health.  This increased both my desire and excitement to work for this wonderful organization! Receiving this scholarship placed my family in a better financial position post-graduation, which now provides us with more opportunity to give to others. Being a recipient of this scholarship has been a true blessing and has showed me the importance of giving back to our community and the future generations of nurses. Those who gave to the scholarship fund not only helped me graduate, they also helped decrease the nursing shortage, and increased the nurses available to care for the Minot community. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this amazing cause in the past and to those who will in the future!” – Jordan Eul

“The Nursing Scholarship has already impacted my nursing career. Without the help of the scholarship I would have to take out more loans and have more of a burden to repay. I can’t explain enough how much it meant to me and my family to receive this great gift. I was so honored that out of all the applicants I was one that was chosen. I wish all future recipients the best of luck in your nursing profession.” – Linnzi Aberle

“Money was a huge stressor for me during nursing school, as I was a newly single mom living on my own for the first time. I had to work, I had to do well in school, and I had to take care of my son. Balancing all three was stressful. The Trinity Health Foundation scholarship took away so much of that stress, so much of the financial worry. I didn’t have to worry about picking up another shift or how I’d be able to get my son a new pair of shoes or a new coat, how I’d be able to pay for the new supplies I needed for school. I was able to study more. It took away a lot of the self-doubt I had too. Knowing Trinity Health Foundation had enough faith in me to help me through school financially, that told me that they saw something in me worth helping. I knew if they saw that then it meant I must be able to do this. And I did. I’m now a nurse on the medical floor, and even on the days I go home in tears, I know I’m right where I’m supposed to be.” – Jennifer Fettig

Your gifts to the Nursing Scholarship Endowment Fund have changed the lives of these scholarship recipients.  Moreover, your gifts are also making a difference for the patients and loved ones that these nurses care for daily.

Now, thanks to a wonderful gift Trinity Health Foundation received from a donor, there are $100,000 in matching funds for the Nursing Scholarship Endowment Fund!  This tremendous gift will enable Trinity Health Foundation to provide scholarships to even more students in the future.  It also means that every donation made to the Nursing Scholarship Fund will go twice as far, since all gifts will be doubled until we reach the $100,000 limit.

Your generous gift today will change and save lives, and your gift can be made in honor or memory of someone. Thank you for partnering with Trinity Health Foundation.

p.s.  Attention North Dakota Residents:  The Nursing Scholarship Endowment Fund is a qualified endowment per the North Dakota Century Code. Therefore, North Dakota residents, businesses, and financial institutions may qualify for a 40% tax credit on the value of their gift to this endowment (minimum gift of $5,000 – at one time or aggregate in one year). Businesses may carry forward any unused credit for up to three (3) taxable years (financial institutions excluded). Individual donors may carry forward any excess credit for three (3) years.