ARA Foundation Scholarship Honors Founding President

The ARA Foundation is honoring the American Rental Association’s first president with the new Leonard Hawk Founders Scholarship. The scholarship, worth $3,000, will be awarded to the Foundation scholarship program’s top applicant when selection of the 2010/2011 recipients is made next summer.

Charlie Neffle, chair of the ARA Foundation board of trustees, said the trustees wanted to recognize those who created ARA with this new scholarship. “As a board, we were looking for a way to commemorate the founders of the American Rental Association and particularly Leonard Hawk,” he said. “He played a key role in the creation of ARA and provided key leadership as the first president.”

Hawk served as ARA president from 1955 to 1958 and was one of the inaugural inductees into the Rental Hall of Fame in 2001. He is retired from his rental business, A-1 Rental Centers, Moline, Ill., and lives in Silvis, Ill.

The new scholarship is one of 38 total administered by the ARA Foundation. Included are 23 total Foundation scholarships as well as those of its affiliate scholarship programs.

Applications for all scholarships are now available on the Foundation’s website, www.ARAfoundation.com. Separate applications are available for undergraduate, technical/vocational school and graduate school students. All applicants are automatically considered for the Leonard Hawk Founders Scholarship and any applicable affiliate scholarship. Scholarship applications are due May 1, 2010.

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