To the Editor:

On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of the Northern Area Health Education Center, Inc. (NAHEC), I wish to express my sincere appreciation for all those who attended, contributed to, and supported the Fall Gala to benefit the Bruce C. Potter Memorial Scholarship fund. The dinner, silent auction proceeds, and financial contributions netted $13,227, all of which is dedicated to the scholarship fund.

The scholarship was established earlier this year in memory of Bruce C. Potter, long-time Canton-Potsdam Hospital President/CEO and NAHEC Board Chair. The scholarship is a competitive annual award for local high school seniors or non-traditional learners in good standing who have completed one or more NAHEC programs, who have been accepted and will be entering a healthcare training program within the next semester cycle.

The Fall Gala was the NAHEC Board’s initial effort to create an endowment to support annual scholarship awards to one or more students each year in perpetuity. Thanks to the enormous response and generous support of our community, the event was a highly successful beginning to building the scholarship endowment in Bruce’s memory.

I would like to take this opportunity to provide our particular thanks to SUNY Potsdam, Canton-Potsdam Hospital, Boutique Florists, and Barstow Motors for their extraordinary efforts to make the Fall Gala a success.

Richard K. Merchant

CEO