From the time she was a little girl, Jessica Corral knew she wanted to be a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. “One of my closest friends had scoliosis,” she says. “I watched her go through therapy, and her experiences really influenced me.”

It wasn’t as simple as deciding what she wanted to be then going for it, though. “I knew going to college would be hard for my family financially,” she says. But Jessica’s dream is coming true, thanks in part to a scholarship from the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, a Darden Restaurants Foundation grant recipient. Today, Jessica is in her senior year at Emory University in Atlanta, and will soon start applying to medical schools.

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund was established in 1975 by a group of community leaders in Northern California. “As they looked around their communities, they realized that a lot of kids were not going to college because they didn’t have the money,” says Dan McBride, HSF regional director.

Since then, the Fund has awarded more than $170 million in scholarships to more than 73,000 students throughout America, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The program also offers mentoring and other support to recipients, with a goal of doubling the rate of Hispanics earning college degrees. In fact, more than 90 percent of HSF students earn their four-year degree.

A Darden Restaurants Foundation matching grant challenge in Dallas, Texas, and Orlando, Florida, is helping expand HSF’s available funds for those communities.

 

That kind of corporate support means a lot to HSF. “Forty percent of all our funding comes from corporations,” Dan says. “And because Darden is nationally recognized, the Darden name gives us additional clout to raise money.”

The community effort means a lot to students like Blanca Vazquez in Dallas, Texas, a Southern Methodist University student and HSF scholarship recipient. “I really appreciate all the efforts of the individuals, companies and organizations that have raised money to help students like me,” she says. “The HSF scholarship made it possible for me to focus on school instead of working to pay for college. It gave me more time to study and apply myself to classes.”

For both Jessica and Blanca, the scholarship is helping them turn dreams into reality. “Going to Emory is a dream come true,” Jessica says. “Scholarships like this really do open the door so that you can take a step closer to your dreams.”
     

Volunteer Spotlight:
Anthony Gatling

“There’s a tremendous feeling of satisfaction that comes from working hand-in-hand with others in your community to resolve problems the community faces,” says Red Lobster Director of Operations Anthony Gatling. For more than a decade, he has acted on that belief.

Twelve years ago, when Anthony was a general manager at a Pittsburgh Red Lobster, the city faced a lot of racially divisive issues. He worked to help bridge the racial divide by volunteering with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, holding officer positions at the branch level and becoming the NAACP Labor and Industry chairperson.

Since being promoted to director and moving to Detroit five years ago, Anthony has continued to volunteer with

community organizations, including serving on the board of the Breithaupt Career and Technical School. Although he no longer serves as a NAACP officer, Anthony is still active. “I continue to sit down regularly with senior leaders in both the NAACP and the Urban League to discuss issues that we share,” he says. His restaurants also support the Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and other efforts that focus on the Hispanic community.

“In the five short years I’ve been in Detroit, I’ve seen the community evolve and work through issues that could have divided us,” Anthony says. “To see the community come up with solutions to bring about positive changes that include all interests and to play a role in that has been profoundly rewarding.”