Investing in Eternity, Maranatha Scholarship
The Bassos were born to parents who immigrated to America and worked hard to make it through the Great Depression. Carl and Ellie Basso both finished high school, but they were never able to take advantage of further education. Receiving a good education was important to the Bassos. They saw to it that their own children finished college, although those children had to work to pay half the expenses themselves.
Ellie Basso’s dream was to establish an ongoing memorial to her family that would continue to assist others who shared her desire regarding the importance of educational training for the Lord’s service. She established the Basso Family Scholarship in 2006. Mrs. Ellie Basso was promoted to heaven in October 2017. She will be missed at this year’s Scholarship Award Chapel.
Ellie Basso’s daughter, Cindy Stratford, writes, “Mom was thrilled when she realized that she could establish this scholarship before her homegoing. She always wanted to be a teacher, but that wasn’t possible coming out of the Great Depression; yet the Lord gave her the desire of her heart later in life when she was working and saving to put each of her three children through school. The Lord allowed her to become a teacher’s aid and teach kindergarten students how to read and use her clerical skills to support and encourage other teachers by relieving them of various time-consuming tasks so they could focus on their teaching and assisting students who needed extra attention in order to achieve.”
Students who have a minimum 2.5 GPA and intend to serve the Lord in full-time ministry are eligible to apply for the Basso Family Scholarship. Since 2006, ten students have benefitted from this scholarship. Six of the ten students have already graduated from Maranatha and four are currently attending Maranatha Baptist Seminary receiving further training for God’s work.
The Basso Family Scholarship has helped several Maranatha students, giving them the opportunity to complete their training and enter full-time Christian ministry.
Nathaniel Madonna a junior, from Michigan, was chosen as the 2017 recipient of the Basso Family Scholarship. In his testimony, he wrote, “This past school year I was privileged to receive the Basso Family Scholarship. As a pastoral major preparing for full-time ministry, I seek to constantly involve myself in the Lord’s work, even as a college student. This scholarship allowed me to spend my summer ministering at Camp CoBeAc in Michigan, where I was blessed to have an impact on many young peoples’ lives. This past summer at camp proved to be a huge encouragement in my life, and I thank God for the financial blessings that afforded me this opportunity.”