"About more than making money and saving taxes".

• Author: McCormally, Timothy J.

In my last column, I quoted from letters that TEI's San Francisco Chapter received from two scholarship recipients, expressing their appreciation. I commented that the letters underscored the continuing vibrancy of TEI's informal credo--that we all owe some of our time to upbuilding the profession and, further, to helping rising tax professionals in the same manner as so many of us have been helped.

Further evidence of this came recently from the Dallas Chapter, which presented scholarships to two students at the University of Texas at Arlington. One of them, Kendra Gollihar, sent a letter expressing her thanks that both humbled me and gave me the chills:

I received notice today that I have received a $1500 scholarship from the Dallas Chapter of Tax Executives Institute, Inc. I am unable to adequately convey my appreciation for this gift. I have been struggling to come up with the funds to pay for my final year in the M.S. Tax program at UT Arlington and this will help tremendously. As the sole breadwinner in a family of four, two of whom have disabilities, it has been tremendously difficult to fund my education while working to support my family. It would have been impossible without the help of grants, loans, and scholarships such as the one I have received from TEI. It is wonderful to know that the profession I will soon be entering is concerned about helping those in need of assistance. Thank you so much for your efforts to help future members of the tax profession in this very pertinent manner. I hope to be able to give back in such a meaningful manner in the future, and...