Phenix City Mayor’s Ball establishes scholarship fund at University of Alabama

Three years into a college scholarship program that has been one of the signature accomplishments of his administration, Phenix City Mayor Eddie Lowe and the committee that oversees it entered into a partnership with the University of Alabama on Thursday.

Proceeds from the Phenix City Mayor’s Ball for Education and Charity are being used to set up a scholarship fund at the University of Alabama to befit Phenix City students.

Lowe started the fundraising gala three years ago and has raised nearly $200,000 to benefit local students seeking college degrees. The Mayor’s Ball committee voted to commit $25,000 to the University of Alabama fund. Lowe is an Alabama graduate and was a captain of legendary Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant’s final Crimson Tide team.

“What I hope we can do is get some of the other schools to come in here and do the same thing,” the mayor said. “I would love to have Auburn, Troy, Alabama State, Alabama A&M and Tuskegee involved, offering scholarship opportunities for our students.”

The fund will be housed with the Chattahoochee Valley Bama Club, which is part of the University of Alabama National Alumni Association. Control over the students who receive the scholarships will remain with the Mayor’s Ball committee.

This will be the ninth such endowment in the local Bama club. It will be called “The Phenix City Mayor’s Educational and Charitable Scholarship Endowment in Honor of Eddie and Deborah Lowe.”

There are 517 such scholarship funds totaling more than $43 million at Alabama alumni chapters across the country, but this one is unique because it is tied to a sitting mayor and municipality.

“This is the first of its kind at Alabama because no other mayor has this type of partnership with Alabama,” said Blair Brown, president of the local alumni chapter.

National Alumni Association President Alex Smith praised Lowe for the efforts to help Phenix City students obtain a college education.

“This type of endowment is unique, but if there is one chapter that I could have predicted would pull this off, it would be Phenix City,” Smith said.

Scholarship recipients must live in Phenix City and be high school seniors. It is both need-based and academic, Lowe said. The GPA requirement is 2.5.

The attraction of the fund is the local money will be leveraged by the university.

“They will offer a 90 to 100 percent match,” Lowe said.

In its third year, last month’s event raised more than it had in the previous two years. The gala, held at Chattahoochee Valley Community College, drew more than 450 people and raised $100,652. That far exceeded the committee’s goal of $75,000.

Since the event was started, it has raised more than $193,000 and nearly 80 students have benefited from the fund.

This year, 29 students received scholarship assistance from the event.

This story was originally published July 7, 2016 at 7:04 PM with the headline "Phenix City Mayor’s Ball establishes scholarship fund at University of Alabama."