A Scholarship Fund

Shortly after my parents died, I was asked if for the funeral I would like flowers sent or donations made somewhere. I realized those donations, if there were any, could really do some good. My mom and dad knew a lot of good people, who may want to contribute to something they believed in. As the thoughts started brewing around in my mind I realized perhaps the right direction to go, was back to the college where my mom taught for so many years. For all my life, my mom taught at what we called, Cal State Hayward. In my later years, the name was changed to Cal State East Bay and we all struggled with changing how we addressed it, but the school was the same and she loved it there.

Professor Abendroth was a great teacher. She loved her students and by the end of each 12 week term knew the name of each one. I sat in several of her classes and always marveled how she related to the class and they seemed to genuinely want to accomplish what she thought they could accomplish. 'How does a professor accomplish that,' I asked myself. 'She must really want them to succeed and love what she does.' And she did. As my brother and I moved away from home she became more entrenched with the students and would spend many hours a week coaching them to get good accounting jobs, explaining class concepts in different ways, and providing educational support where it was needed.

In order to start working on the Scholarship Fund, I needed to worked with the University Advancement department at CSU East Bay. Many of those that worked in the office knew my mother from other donations she had made. They thought it was a great idea and I later found out, was something my mother had intended to do, further down the road in her teaching career.

And so we established the Charlene Abendroth Memorial Scholarship Fund. The fund is designed for students in the Accounting program with a 3.0 gpa or above who are in at least their third year in accounting and have declared accounting to be their major. If you would like to contribute to the scholarship fund, you may do so at the link below.

Checks for contributions to the memorial fund should be made payable to the Cal State East Bay Educational Foundation with "Charlene Abendroth Memorial Fund" indicated in the memo field. Contributions should be sent to the offices of Cal State East Bay University Advancement, Warren Hall Room 908, 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd., Hayward, 94542 or made online at https://webapps.csueastbay.edu/secure/onlinegift/ with "Charlene Abendroth Memorial Fund" in the 'special instructions for your gift' area.

I know my mom would be pleased to see the program she supported and students in that field be able to continue their education, even in her absence.