| I. Background
of the Bonner Foundation
History of
Foundation
The story of the Foundation is the story
of Bertram and Corella Bonner and their desire to “give
back to the Lord what the Lord has given [them].” Both
Bertram and Corella Bonner's personal journeys played a significant
role in the development and direction of the Foundation.
Corella and Bertram
Bonner
In the words of Bertram Bonner, he was born
“without a dime” in 1899 in Brooklyn, New York.
At the early age of 22, after putting himself through college
at night, Mr. Bonner was named Head Treasurer for Heda Green
Banks. He had been working with Ms. Green since the beginning
of his teenage years and had learned much from the eccentric
and well-known woman. As Head Treasurer he made many loans
to New York builders, which inspired him to become involved
in the real estate business. He was successful from the beginning
but in the stock market crash of '29, like so many others,
he lost everything.
But, unlike others, with hard-work and
a tremendous acumen for business, Mr. Bonner quickly made
back his fortune. His career spanned six decades and he built
more than 30,000 homes and apartments.
Corella Bonner, like her husband, was born
into poverty. However, she began her journey in the rural
south - more specifically the town of Eagan, TN. At fourteen,
after living in coal-mining towns in West Virginia, Tennessee
and Kentucky, Corella Allen, along with her mother, sought
opportunity in the northern city of Detroit. Arriving penniless,
the young Allen soon found work as a cashier at a cafeteria,
attended Wayne State University at night and made sure that
her younger siblings went to school.
She worked her way up from cashier to manager and was eventually
transferred to the Statler chain's New York hotel. It was
there that she met Bertram Bonner who she married, four years
later, in 1942.
The Bonners' involvement in community service
emanated from their early work providing food for destitute
families in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where the Bonner family
lived. When the Bonners moved in 1956 to Princeton, NJ they
began a broad-based ecumenical crisis ministry program housed
in the Nassau Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Bonner passed away in May of 1993. Mrs.
Bonner carried on their legacy of hope, service and gratitude
until her passing in July of 2002.
Foundation Creation
Since activated in 1989, the Foundation
has become one of the nation's largest privately-funded service
scholarship programs and a philanthropic leader in the anti-hunger
movement. Through sustained partnerships with colleges and
congregations, the Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation
seeks to improve the lives of individuals and communities
by helping meet the basic needs of nutrition and educational
opportunity.
The Foundation addresses its mission with
two major programs, Bonner
Scholars and Crisis
Ministry. The Bonner Scholar
Program provides scholarships to students at 27
colleges and universities who need financial assistance
and who have a commitment to strengthening their communities
through service. The Crisis
Ministry Program funds the purchase of food for congregation-supported,
anti-hunger initiatives. The Crisis Ministry Program grew
out of the Bonner’s early work providing food for poor
families in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Currently, the Foundation
awards $625,000 in grants annually to congregationally-affiliated,
community-based hunger relief programs across the country.
In the last 11 years, the Foundation has
provided $9.5 million in grants to thousands of religious,
community-based hunger relief programs across the country
and has awarded more than $12 million in scholarship support
to more than 2,500 students at 27 colleges. In addition, the
Foundation has created a $5 million endowment at 7 of the
Bonner colleges to carry out the Bonner Scholars Program,
which has become a nationally recognized service scholarship
model.
Foundation
Values and Beliefs
The Bonner Foundation is committed to the
following values and beliefs:
- The Bonner Foundation is committed to working with all
people and institutions regardless of age, race, belief,
or nationality.
- The Bonner Foundation believes that colleges and congregations
have vital societal roles to play by nurturing and mobilizing
thoughtful, caring, and diverse leadership dedicated to
community service.
- The Bonner Foundation recognizes that often the best
way to help someone is to give them the opportunity to help
themselves, and that the people best able to address a problem
are the people whom it most directly affects.
- The Bonner Foundation recognizes that effective community
service programs involve all stakeholders in their leadership.
- The Bonner Foundation recognizes that long-lasting partnerships
are based on mutual respect and common commitments.
- The Bonner Foundation supports innovative programs which
have the potential to serve as models for other congregations
and higher education institutions.
Resource Documents
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