Last week at a Boomer Esiason Foundation event, we announced the creation of the Lea Faraone Memorial Scholarship for students with cystic fibrosis who want to study abroad!
Lea loved to travel and try new things, so we think supporting students who want to study abroad is a great fit for a scholarship in her name.
It is my goal to make sure Lea’s legacy lives on in a powerful way, and a scholarship seems like a perfect start! I also made a promise to work on ways to help patients who are dealing with advanced drug resistant infections, and we are exploring different avenues to fulfill that as well.
The story behind the creation of the scholarship will hopefully warm your heart this morning.
Back in December, shortly after Lea’s passing, a group of my best friends from my years at Boston College called me up and told me that they had gone over my head at the foundation and done something behind my back.
God knows what that meant, right?
It turns out they had been paying attention to my friendship with Lea, and they knew how much she meant to me, Tiffany, her family, the podcast and the CF community. Together, they decided they would make a contribution to the Boomer Esiason Foundation in her honor to create the Lea Faraone Memorial Scholarship and fund the very first award.
Their generosity blew me away. I remember sitting speechless for a few moments and trying to think about what to say, but couldn’t come up with a single thing. It was a special moment for a great group of friends.
Their desire to do something so amazing in her honor has inspired me to fire up a fundraising campaign, which is why today we are going to let the public help fund and sustain the Lea Faraone Memorial Scholarship.
But we aren’t going to stop there. HALF of the proceeds raised between today and April 30th will go to our friends at the Lea Marie Faraone Foundation by way of a grant from us at BEF.
Your contribution will go a long way in supporting students with cystic fibrosis who want to study abroad AND Lea Faraone’s legacy.
You can make a donation HERE!
The scholarship will begin accepting applicants at www.esiason.org later in the Spring!
