We are very pleased to introduce you to our brand new internet home!! Check us out at www.runforrow.org where you can easily find information about applying for our Scholarship, annual Run For Row 5K event, how to donate, and more! 

For the third year in a row, we are selecting two high school seniors in the WNY area who have lost a parent or guardian, giving them a $2,500 scholarship toward their college tuition. We are also offering their parent a paid registration (a $400 value) to attend a life-changing and inspirational event called Camp Widow®, giving them the opportunity to connect in person with other widowed people. 

We are very excited about this year's 10th Run For Row 5K taking place on Sunday, August 19 - we hope you'll join us!

A new internet home for our foundation!

Hi Everyone,

We are in the process of preparing a new website to serve as our new internet home and are expecting to be up and running no later than the beginning of February.

When we return with our new site, we will have updated Scholarship Applications for our students!

We appreciate your patience during this time and hope you all enjoy your holidays!

Moving up!

Congratulations to all of our applicants!!! By now, you've all had your moments in your caps and gowns to receive your high school diplomas!

Graduation, as with any other big moment in life, is bittersweet when you've experienced the losses you have, and I wish I could give each and every one of you a big hug (along with a scholarship). While you may feel alone in a sea of moms and dads with their kids, be assured you're not alone. As witnessed it all of the applications we received this year, you're in good company. While that fact is heartbreaking, sometimes it helps to know there are so many more like you. If you can find a way to connect with those others, grab that opportunity - it's surprisingly comforting to be with those who understand on the same level that you do. (Hint: The Run for Row 5K is a good start...)

You should all be very proud of yourselves and your accomplishments thus far; and theres so much more to look forward to!

And the winners are............

We are very excited to announce that our Board of Directors has selected two scholarship winners for the 2017 Matthew R. Row Scholarship!!! They each will receive $2,500 toward their college tuition! Letters are going out this week to all of our applicants!! 

It was truly a difficult decision. The amount of applications we received this year was three times from last year (15 last year, 45 this year). It's heartbreaking to think that all of these kids have lost a parent, and some have lost both. Some of our Western New York high school seniors may not have been aware of the scholarship, and some may have chosen not to apply - we know there are many more kids out there...

In reading through all of the essays, looking at transcripts, the beautiful letters of recommendation and the impressive accomplishments these individuals have made despite some of the worst hardships that a young person should never be faced with, we have so much respect and admiration for each one of our applicants. Some are helping to raise their younger siblings, some are working to help contribute financially to the household to help their single parent, all while maintaining their academics, extracurricular and community involvement, and taking strides towards that next step to college. And in addition to all that, so many have accounted for a shift in perspective that allows them to be even more grateful for what they have in life, knowing it can be taken away in a second, and feel a call to help others. A perspective that most young people don't usually get until much later in life...

To those who DID apply, we truly wish we could give a scholarship to each and every one of you to make the financial burden of college just a little more tolerable. We are so sincerely sorry for the loss of your loved ones. We appreciate the time and effort it took to complete the application and send it in with the necessary documentation. We commend you for taking that initiative, despite all the other responsibilities you face with the next exciting stage of your lives, and we enjoyed learning about each and every one of you and hearing about your loved ones. Thank you, and we hope you take us up on our offer to attend the 9th Annual Run for Row on August 20 (all the details are in your letters). We hope to get to meet you all!! 

Have you ever been told to get over it?

"When you die, do you want to be forgotten...or do you want the people you love to create a life for themselves with life, purpose and meaning?" ~Kelley Lynn

Why we still and always will talk about our loved ones! Wonderful talk for anyone who has lost a loved one and been told to "move on" or "get over it." I have had the pleasure of meeting Kelley at Camp Widow and am grateful to know such a sweet and loving soul. Take a listen to this lecture in its entirety...SO good!

REGISTRATION is now OPEN!!

The 9th Annual RUN FOR ROW 5K is on Sunday, August 20, 2017 at Como Park in Lancaster with a 10am start time. 

REGISTRATION is now open!! CLICK HERE for early bird registration! 

Application Period Officially Closed

Hi Everyone!!

We had extended the deadline to May 1, 2017 and now the application period has officially closed for this year. We are still processing the applications we received and will send confirmation of their receipt by email this week.

Thank you to all who have applied - we understand the effort it took to complete the process, and the courage it took to write your essays. Some of you haven't even spoken of your losses, let alone written about them, so we want you to know that is something that we don't take for granted. Our hearts go out to each and every single one of our applicants.

We are now in the process of reviewing each one in detail to make a very difficult decision of choosing only two recipients for the scholarship, and as soon as our entire board has had the chance to review as well, we will notify all of the applicants of our decision. We estimate our decision to be made by the first week of June.

In the meantime, you're in the high school home stretch! Keep up the forward momentum - you're going places!!

Andrea

ATTN: HIGH SCHOOL COUNSELORS

Hello High School Counselors! 

This is a reminder to please inform your students that the Scholarship Application deadline has been EXTENDED to April 30, 2017. As long as the envelope has been post-marked by that date, it will be accepted. 

Thank you to all the counselors to have reached out to their students to inform them of this opportunity and have helped them out with this process! 

=) 

Scholarship Application Deadline EXTENDED

Because of the issue with the Post Office Box (which has been resolved), we are extending the application deadline from April 1 to May 1. Also, if anyone is having trouble printing the application, please contact me at row727@yahoo.com and I'll be happy to email it directly to you. Thank you!

PO Box Issue RESOLVED

I'm pleased to say there is no longer any issue with receiving mail- apparently the label fell off of the box, but they have replaced it. Phew!! =)

PO Box Issue

Two times people have sent something to our PO Box that was returned to them. I have a call into the Post Office and they are troubleshooting the issue. Hopefully this will be resolved today. Thank you all for your patience! I will update as soon as I hear back from them. I apologize for any inconvenience.

2017 Scholarship Application and Brochure to view and print!

2017 Scholarship Application and Brochure to view and print! 

We are happy to be able to make these documents easily accessible to the public! 

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION for High School Seniors

For more details about The Matthew R. Row Scholarship Foundation, please download our BROCHURE.

We are happy you found us and we look forward to reviewing your applications. Hope to see you all at the Run for Row 5K on August 20, 2017!

Andrea =)

Hello, 2017!

Happy New Year, Everyone!!

2016 was a very successful first full year as a Foundation, and our primary goal was achieved - to award two students who lost a parent with a $2,500 scholarship toward their college tuition. Thank you to everyone who was involved with that - Run for Row attendees, donors, volunteers, our Board of Directors, and all the love from family, friends and strangers. This could not have been achieved without each and every one of you, and it's our hope that 2017 is just as successful!

The updated Scholarship Applications for 2017 will be accessible as of the beginning of February, and we will introduce them with a blog post.  Thank you for your patience!  

Some goals for this year:

* Develop an official website for The Matthew R. Row Scholarship Foundation
* Add two members to our Board of Directors
* Meet and exceed donations for funding, and increase attendance for the 9th Annual Run for Row
* Reach more people in the Western New York area to not only provide them with the opportunity to apply for the scholarship, but to make sure they (as well as their parent) have access to any grief/peer support that might be helpful to them.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we had so many donations that we would be able to provide scholarships to even more high school students entering college?!

Let's all strive to have open minds, hearts, spread love, and make 2017 a great year!

Love,
Andrea

This Sunday!!!

Online registration for the Run For Row has closed, but don't worry! If you didn't get a chance to register online, you can do it in person on the morning of the race!

This Sunday, August 14th at Como Park in Lancaster- race starts promptly at 10am, so give yourself enough time to register and join us for all the fun! ☀️
If you're not able to make it this Sunday and would still like to make a donation, you can send a check payable to The Matthew R. Row Scholarship Foundation to P.O. Box 931, Buffalo, NY 14225.

This year, The Matthew R. Row Scholarship Foundation has awarded a college scholarship to two local high school seniors in the amount of $2,500 each. In addition, we offered their remaining parent/guardian a paid registration to one of the Camp Widow® programs offered by Soaring Spirits International.

This is the first time we're able to award scholarships, so we are very eager to reach as many people as possible so we can continue doing so!

Please help spread the word by liking and sharing this post- just that simple act can make a difference. Thank you!

SAVE THE DATE!

SAVE THE DATE!

Join us for the 8th annual Run for Row 5K on Sunday,

August 14, 2016

LOCATION:      Como Lake Park, 2220 Como Park Blvd., Lancaster, NY 14086

REGISTRATION:    $25 pre-registration until August 1; $30 after deadline. Register through www.active.com or come early and register the day of at the race. First 300 registered receive a high tech moisture wicking running shirt and other goodies in the swag bag.

START TIMES:     Registration and check in begin at 9 AM on race day. Race begins at 10 AM sharp.

POST RACE:     Known for having one of the best post race parties in town featuring Awards Ceremony, DJ Music, Door Prizes, Silent Auction, Chinese Auction, kids’ activities, great food, beer/ refreshments…

Not a runner? That’s OK! Come out and enjoy the day; $5 gets you all you can eat and drink! 

Proceeds fund The Matthew R. Row Scholarship Foundation. 

This year’s scholarship recipients will be announced at the party! 

Run, walk, or just join in for the fun and support a great cause! 

Check us out on:

Facebook, buffalorunners.com, active.com (search “Run for Row”)

2016 Run for Row 5K

This year's Run for Row 5K date is either going to be on Sunday, August 14 or Sunday, August 21, 2016 at Como Park in Lancaster, NY.  As soon as we have final confirmation of the date, we will post an update. Please stay tuned!! =) 

8th Annual Run for Row 5K

The Run for Row is presently our only source of funds for The Matthew R. Row Scholarship Foundation, so we also rely heavily on donations. Please consider making a donation either through our Go Fund Me page, or you can send a check to P.O. Box 931, Cheektowaga, NY 14225 payable to The Matthew R. Row Scholarship Foundation. Every dollar goes to the scholarship awards.

The 2016 application period is now closed, and we are looking forward to reviewing all of the application packages we have received. We are excited to award two deserving students with a $2,500 scholarship each- it will be so difficult to choose only two!

Please stay tuned for updates!

Scholarship Application and Brochure to view and print!

We are happy to be able to make these documents easily accessible to the public! 

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION for High School Seniors

For more details about The Matthew R. Row Scholarship Foundation, please download our BROCHURE.

If anyone is interested in making a donation, here is our CONTRIBUTION FORM.

We are happy you found us and we look forward to reviewing your applications. Hope to see you all at the Run for Row 5K on the third Sunday in August!

Andrea =)

Off and Running!

As the president of The Matthew R. Row Scholarship Foundation and on behalf of the rest of our esteemed board members, we are so grateful for the opportunity to be involved in such a positive endeavor. I've been personally making lots of phone calls to the high school guidance departments in the WNY area and spreading the word about our new foundation! The timing is perfect, too - most seniors have completed their college applications and are now focused on scholarship applications.

We are so happy to be able to tell them that we are giving all high school seniors in WNY who have lost a parent or guardian the opportunity to apply for a $2,500 scholarship toward their college tuition, in which two will be awarded. We are equally as pleased to offer a paid registration to one of the Camp Widow events offered by Soaring Spirits International.

As a widow, I became involved with Soaring Spirits very early on in my journey seven years ago as a young widow and only parent to two very young children. This organization has helped me almost from day one with my loss in so many ways. I learned how valuable it is to connect with other people who have lost the person they were supposed to spend the rest of their life with. Being around other people who "get it" has been such an integral part of keeping me in a forward momentum. I also learned that giving back is just as healing as receiving the support I found. I had the opportunity to volunteer with them for a year, lead a workshop during one of the Camp events several years ago, and have made lifelong friends through it all. I've been inspired by the founder, Michele Neff Hernandez, and her amazing example of leadership, perseverance, grace and love in which she runs her organization. Many others who I have met through Soaring Spirits have also founded non-profit organizations designed to help adults as well as children who have been affected by loss. I've learned a lot from them (and continue to learn) about running an organization of this nature.  I am proud to be able to offer them as additional resources, as every bit helps when navigating a life so altered by a devastating loss.

As a mom, I'm able to show our impressionable children that it's possible to take something awful and turn it into something beautiful, and show my love for their daddy by helping so many others in his honor.

Although we're only able to offer scholarships to two students in WNY (as of right now until we are able to obtain more funding), anyone who learns about our foundation can find other means of support through the links to the right to either help themselves or pass along the information to someone else who might need it.

Andrea =)

A few great updates!

The 7th Annual Run for Row was a huge success! It's so incredibly uplifting to see so many people working together for a common cause - the volunteers who faithfully and tirelessly put this whole event on every year, the sponsors (big and small), the people who donate baskets and other Chinese auction items, the runners, walkers, and those who can't do either but are there to offer their moral support. I'm sure I'm forgetting to mention someone... Each and every person involved in any way of this event is so very much appreciated. Thank you, everybody!!!


Our first official board meeting in April was also a great success, and many crucial decisions were made to get the corporation's ball rolling:

            Election of the officers and directors of the corporation:
            President:               Andrea R. Row
            Vice Presidents:     Scott Boyko
                                           Kim Lewandowski
            Secretary:               Gina Ferrentino
            Treasurer:               Andrew Armitage

            Change of name:
           "Run for Row Corp" to "The Matthew R. Row Scholarship Foundation, Inc."

            Purposes of the corporation broadened:
            "The Corporation is a charitable corporation under Section 21 of the Not-For-Profit Corporation Law. The Corporation's purpose is to provide scholarships to students in Western New York who have lost a parent. The Corporation will provide scholarships to help assure that these children are able to obtain a college education and will accomplish this by hosting fundraising campaigns to fund scholarships. The Corporation may also provide grants and financial assistance to tax-exempt organizations and individuals to provide support and resources for widowed persons rebuilding their lives after the death of a spouse or partner."

This, in addition to getting all the little legal forms and policies in place to make everything legit and official.

On our way!!!