The Richard and Eric Dong Endowment Fund Awards Scholarships to Young Residents at Union Station Homeless Services

Richard Dong (left) and Eric Dong present Victoria Purnell with one of the 21 scholarships granted by The Richard and Eric Dong Endowment Fund as part of an ongoing endowment to Union Station Homeless Services Family Center. – Courtesy photo / Union Station

At its first ever scholarship ceremony, The Richard and Eric Dong Endowment Fund awarded 21 scholarships to young residents at the Family Center at Union Station Homeless Services. On hand to celebrate the 11 awards for $250 and 10 awards for $150 were Congresswoman Judy Chu and Anne Miskey, CEO of Union Station Homeless Services.

“Victoria has been ice skating since she was 3 years old. She is going to use her scholarship funds to take figure skating lessons and achieve her dream of learning how to do jumps,” says Jessica Purnell, mother of one of the scholarship winners for sports.

Based on essay submissions, The Richard and Eric Dong Endowment Fund awarded 10 sports scholarships to help in purchasing equipment and lessons, five academic scholarships to fund books and supplies, five arts and music scholarships to further lessons in dance and music and one humans rights scholarship to help advance a just and peaceful world.

“Richard and Eric Dong are two young men who are an inspiration for all,” says Miskey. “With their generous support of these scholarships, they are helping our young residents achieve their dreams and showing how community support makes such a difference in the lives of the families at Union Station Homeless Services.”

(Left to right) Richard Dong, CEO of Union Station Homeless Services Anne Miskey, Congresswoman Judy Chu, and Eric Dong at the first ever scholarship ceremony of The Richard and Eric Dong Endowment Fund as part of an ongoing endowment to Union Station Homeless Services Family Center. – Courtesy photo / Union Station

Although still teenagers, Richard and Eric funded the endowment from money they earned from their own successful business investments. In addition to creating the endowment and scholarship fund, Richard and Eric are volunteers at the Family Center at Union Station Homeless Services, providing piano lessons and math tutoring to the residents throughout the year.

“Since my brother and I have been volunteering at Union Station Homeless Services, we have been inspired by how hard the children are working to achieve their dreams. But for many there are financial barriers,” said Eric Dong. “Richard and I were extremely touched by what the children wrote on their applications and we wanted to support as many as possible.”

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