NEW: Meryl Streep Donates Another $10,000 to Second RI Charity
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
She's done it again! Meryl Streep has doubled her RI philanthropy in just two days, now donating $10,000 dollars to Upward Bound, a RI-based charity, again honoring her fellow Oscar nominee (and former costar) Viola Davis.
It's the largest donation in the organization's history, according to Mariam Z. Boyajian, the program's director.
Upward Bound is based at Rhode Island College, the alma mater of Davis. With a 42-year history of helping high school students prepare for college, it's one of 750 federally-funded projects of its kind in the country and the only one in Rhode Island.
Streep’s donation is to Upward Bound’s Scholarship Endowment Fund, which was founded by Davis and her sister Deloris Davis Grant. Viola graduated from Upward Bound in 1983; Deloris in 1982. Both are also 1988 graduates of RIC.
This marks the second time Streep has donated to Upward Bound, which is designed to instill in low-income, potential first-generation college students the skills and motivation to complete high school and graduate from college. The first gift was made in May 2009 and was for $2,500.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe sisters founded the Scholarship Fund in 1988 as a way to give back to future generations of Upward Bound students, according to Boyajian, who has directed of the program since 1981 and is a 1970 RIC grad.
Since the first scholarship was granted in 1989, 55 graduating seniors have received the major awards totaling $64,400.
Boyajian said she was “delighted” to receive the gift from Streep in honor of Davis. “It is striking to know that Viola continues to share her love and respect for this program with her peers, that she continues her personal support of this program from which she graduated, and that she is so committed to assisting the youth of her hometown and Upward Bound.”
According to Boyajian, “Viola is Viola…she holds the same values, high level of integrity, and connection to her family, her Central Falls community, the college, andUpward Bound.”
Streep, who was named Best Actress this Sunday at the 2012 Academy Awards, has already sent a check for $10,000 to the Segue Institute in Central Falls, the charter school that Viola Davis has been a proponent of. The actress's Silver Mountain Foundation for the Arts has funded both gifts.
Streep and Davis appeared together in the 2008 film, Doubt.
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