The Le Foyer Educational Loan Trust

Every year, The Le Foyer Educational Loan Trust awards a limited amount of interest free loans to deserving students to attend college. The number of awards that are given is determine each year by the amount of monies that become available from past recipients and new monies added to the fund.

The awards process, the selection process, guidelines and the payback policy is currently under review by the Trustees.

We will post more information on this page with information on how a student should apply for a loan as soon as the review is complete.

Applications for loans usually need to be returned by June 30. Determinations for awards are usually made in July.

Check back with us soon.

Le Foyer Educational Loan Trust

HISTORY

The founders of Le Foyer firmly believe in education. In the first Constitution and By-laws, they specified that a third, 33%, of the annual income was to be used for scholarships. Unfortunately, that goal was never reached. It was during the Great Depression and money was very scarce. World War II followed and the emphasis switched from giving scholarships to raising money for war bonds. After the War, several fund-raisers for the Scholarship Fund were held. Concerts by Les Gais Chanteurs were the most notable.

In the mid-Fifties, Le Foyer borrowed money from its members ($100 bonds at 5 ½ %) to buy and renovate the building at 151 Fountain Street, Pawtucket, which it owned until the early nineties. When the bonds became due, it asked its members to donate either the bond and/or the interest to the Scholarship Fund. The membership responded generously

From 1976 to 1985, Le Foyer supported the Scholarship Fund at first by donating approximately $5,000 a year, the proceeds of its annual Grand Prix Raffle, and later about $2,500 a year, the proceeds of its annual Christmas Raffle.

The Scholarship Fund has benefited from large and small donations as well as bequests. Leopold Bonvouloir made a generous bequest. Elsie Putzig donated her Grand Prix prize. Many speakers donated their honorarium of $25. Some members made annual donations. The widow of a life member even donated his "dues" until her death.

An event which needs to be mentioned happened in 1968. The Scholarship Fund became a separate entity. This was done to shelter its moneys from taxes. Le Foyer reserved the right to name its trustees. It also required a financial report. A detailed confidential report is given to the president and secretary each year. A summary is given to the membership.

The Scholarship Fund also changed from giving scholarships to making interest-free loans. This was done because it could no longer keep up with raising funds to meet the ever-increasing demands for scholarships. Loans permit more students to be helped because the money is "recycled".

Since the Scholarship Fund’s inception, it has helped some 275 students equally divided by coincidence between boys and girls. They’ve attended every college from the Albany School of Pharmacy to Worcester Polytechnic Institute and they’ve studied everything from accounting to veterinary medicine.

The Scholarship Fund which has been renamed the Le Foyer Educational Loan Trust is administered by six trustees.