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Sunday, September 08, 2002 10:04:06 PM
Family uses dead child's college fund to help others
By Associated Press, 9/8/2002 15:05
WETHERSFIELD, Conn. (AP) Alan and Carmen Dornan had set aside $125,000 to pay for their son's college education.
After 18-year-old Aaron Dornan died in an automobile accident in 1998, his parents decided to honor him by using those funds to start a nonprofit foundation and educate children who would otherwise be unable to go to school.
''He was our only child so I think that after we got through the initial shock, we said we need to do something with our lives that's going to honor him and honor his memory,'' Alan Dornan told The Hartford Courant.
In its early stages, The Aaron Joseph Dornan foundation has given away several grants. It funds programs at a Hartford shelter for women, provided a college scholarship for a Windsor girl, paid the $250 school fees for about 10 children in Haiti, and helped to sponsor two Hartford children's experience at a leadership camp.
Mounting a foundation organized around a social cause seems appropriate, the Dornans said. Aaron was known to tutor students in math and volunteered with social organizations.
He died 12 days after he graduated from Watkinson School in Hartford. He was driving home from a leadership camp in New Hampshire. It was the first time he had driven to camp, the Dornans said.
Another girl died in the accident; two others suffered minor injuries. Authorities have said Aaron likely fell asleep at the wheel.
''These people have gone above and beyond,'' said Sharilyn Miller, organizer of an after-school program, called Virtual Initiative for Peace. The Dornans paid half the $1,800 fee for the three-week camp and arranged transportation for the boys and their families. ''They are trying to give these boys the same opportunities their Aaron would have had. For that, I have given them the utmost respect.''
By Associated Press, 9/8/2002 15:05
WETHERSFIELD, Conn. (AP) Alan and Carmen Dornan had set aside $125,000 to pay for their son's college education.
After 18-year-old Aaron Dornan died in an automobile accident in 1998, his parents decided to honor him by using those funds to start a nonprofit foundation and educate children who would otherwise be unable to go to school.
''He was our only child so I think that after we got through the initial shock, we said we need to do something with our lives that's going to honor him and honor his memory,'' Alan Dornan told The Hartford Courant.
In its early stages, The Aaron Joseph Dornan foundation has given away several grants. It funds programs at a Hartford shelter for women, provided a college scholarship for a Windsor girl, paid the $250 school fees for about 10 children in Haiti, and helped to sponsor two Hartford children's experience at a leadership camp.
Mounting a foundation organized around a social cause seems appropriate, the Dornans said. Aaron was known to tutor students in math and volunteered with social organizations.
He died 12 days after he graduated from Watkinson School in Hartford. He was driving home from a leadership camp in New Hampshire. It was the first time he had driven to camp, the Dornans said.
Another girl died in the accident; two others suffered minor injuries. Authorities have said Aaron likely fell asleep at the wheel.
''These people have gone above and beyond,'' said Sharilyn Miller, organizer of an after-school program, called Virtual Initiative for Peace. The Dornans paid half the $1,800 fee for the three-week camp and arranged transportation for the boys and their families. ''They are trying to give these boys the same opportunities their Aaron would have had. For that, I have given them the utmost respect.''
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