{"id":2839,"date":"2010-09-09T12:59:42","date_gmt":"2010-09-09T16:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/?p=2839"},"modified":"2026-07-13T22:06:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T02:06:31","slug":"delmarva-philanthropist-helps-umes-freshmen-pay-for-textbooks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/delmarva-philanthropist-helps-umes-freshmen-pay-for-textbooks\/","title":{"rendered":"Delmarva Philanthropist Helps UMES Freshmen Pay for Textbooks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thursday, September 9, 2010<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PRINCESS ANNE, MD &#8211; (Sept. 8, 2010) &#8211; Five University of Maryland Eastern Shore freshmen are starting their college careers with help from a prominent funeral director on Delmarva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bennie Smith, who owns 12 funeral homes from Chestertown, MD to Exmore, VA, retooled a general scholarship program he started in 2003 and now directs his gift be used to pay for textbooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Books are so expensive these days &#8211; not like when I was in school,&#8221; said Dr. Francis Gates, who administers the financial aid for Smith. &#8220;We thought this would be a way to assist young people with the tools they need to be successful college students.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smith pledged $5,000 to lend a hand to five first-year students at UMES for the 2010-11 academic year. Each will receive vouchers worth $500 per semester to defray the cost of books and related expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gates, a retired educator, sent letters to 38 high schools on Delmarva seeking applications and coordinated selection of recipients based on financial need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Mr. Smith has always believed in education,&#8221; Gates said. &#8220;He feels strongly about encouraging young people to go on to college.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year&#8217;s Bennie Smith book scholarship recipients at UMES are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Cara Baltimore, North Caroline High School (Denton, MD)<\/li><li>DaAndre&#8217; Burton, Northampton High School, (Eastville, VA)<\/li><li>Briante&nbsp;Dickerson,&nbsp;Nandua&nbsp;High School (Onley, VA)<\/li><li>Wayne Heath,&nbsp;Nandua&nbsp;High<\/li><li>Arshelle&nbsp;Jackson, North Caroline High<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;I would like to say thank you to Mr. Bennie Smith,&#8221; said Burton, a criminal justice major. &#8220;He&#8217;s taken a big burden off my mother and step-father in helping me&nbsp;pay&nbsp;for my books.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An appreciative Heath, also a criminal justice major, said Smith&#8217;s generosity &#8220;made it a little easier to afford furthering my education.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smith specifically wanted to help students attending Delmarva&#8217;s historically black institutions and set up a similar program at Delaware State University in Dover, where he also has a funeral home, Gates said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/219\/2021\/09\/Smith.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2840\" width=\"867\" height=\"578\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/219\/2021\/09\/Smith.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/219\/2021\/09\/Smith-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/219\/2021\/09\/Smith-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 867px) 100vw, 867px\" \/><figcaption><strong>DaAndre&#8217; Burton, left, Bennie Smith Funeral Home representative, Francis Gates financial aid director<br>James Kellam, center, Briante Dickerson and Wayne Heath.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>###<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Bill Robinson, UMES Office of Public Relations, 410-621-2355.&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:wrobinson3@umes.edu\">wrobinson3@umes.edu<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Gail Stephens, UMES Office of Public Relations, 410-651-7580,&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:gcstephens1@umes.edu\">gcstephens1@umes.edu<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thursday, September 9, 2010 PRINCESS ANNE, MD &#8211; (Sept. 8, 2010) &#8211; Five University of Maryland Eastern Shore freshmen are starting their college careers with help from a prominent funeral director on Delmarva. Bennie Smith, who owns 12 funeral homes from Chestertown, MD to Exmore, VA, retooled a general scholarship program he started in 2003&#8230;<span class=\"cpschool-read-more-link-holder\"><a class=\"btn btn-basic cpschool-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/delmarva-philanthropist-helps-umes-freshmen-pay-for-textbooks\/\">Read more <span class=\"sr-only\">Delmarva Philanthropist Helps UMES Freshmen Pay for Textbooks<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-2839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2839"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=2839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}