News        from ABAC

Michael D. Chason Director of Public Relations ABAC 30 -- 2802 Moore Highway Tifton, GA 31793-2601 Phone 229-391-5055 Fax 229-391-5056 mchason@abac.edu

IMMEDIATE MAY 1, 2007

ABAC STUDENTS WILL BENEFIT FROM AMY GRANT PERFORMANCE

TIFTON— When popular recording star Amy Grant takes the stage at the John Hunt Auditorium at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center on June 15 for this year’s Dollars for ABAC Scholars, many Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College students will benefit.

Sponsored by the ABAC Foundation, the event has been a staple of ABAC’s history and a part of the Tifton community since 1972.  The event actually began as a fundraiser to complete construction on ABAC’s Chapel of All Faiths. Singer Anita Bryant was the first performer.

A year later the purpose of Dollars for ABAC Scholars was changed to raise matching money for the federal student financial aid program.  For every dollar raised privately, ABAC received nine dollars in federal financial aid.

In 1987, the benefit’s proceeds transitioned to private scholarships administered by the ABAC Foundation.   The federal matching program phased out, but not before the Foundation had raised millions of dollars in federal matching funds.

Assistant Director of Development Betty McCorvey said that over the last eight years the scholarship benefit has raised over a quarter of a million dollars for student scholarships.  

Performers for Dollars for ABAC Scholars have included Trisha Yearwood, Debbie Reynolds, Shirley Jones, Roy Clark, Barbara Mandrell, The Temptations, Marie Osmond, Ricky Van Shelton, Mel Tillis, John Berry and many more.

Tickets for the 2007 event are $75 each for the concert only and $125 per person for the pre-concert meal and show.  Reserved tables for the meal, which include eight tickets together in a prime concert location, are $1,250 each.  To purchase tickets, interested persons should call (229) 391-4897 or visit the ABAC web site at www.abac.edu.    

            Grant has received 25 Dove awards and is a four-time Artist of the Year award winner.  Her number one songs include “That’s What Love Is For,” “Lucky One,” and “Next Time I Fall.”   She has six full length videos and DVD’s and appeared in the movie, “A Song From The Heart.”

McCorvey said that Platinum Scholarship sponsors for the event are Ameris Bank, Ambling University Development Group, Pennington Lawn and Garden Products, and The Stafford Companies.

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