FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 12, 2024

Contact:?Ron Leix, Treasury, 517-335-2167

MET to host 12th Annual Pizza Party Fundraiser on the Michigan State Capitol lawn to help students with experience in foster care attend college

Fostering Futures scholarships provide meaningful gifts
of education that will last a lifetime for recipients

LANSING ? For just a $10 donation, attendees at the 12^th?annual Michigan Education Trust (MET) Pizza Party on the Capitol lawn on Tuesday, June 18, can enjoy a pizza lunch while helping make the dream of a college education a reality for young adults who have experienced foster care.

The event will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Michigan State Capitol lawn at the corner of North Capital Avenue and West Ottawa Street in downtown Lansing. The event will feature live entertainment, speakers, informational vendors and a chance to win raffle prizes.

For a minimum donation of $10, attendees will receive a slice of pizza, dessert and a drink. To ensure there is enough pizza to go around, MET asks individuals to?please preregister to attend the event. You may register and prepay online?or pay the day of the event.

This year, the Treasury Black History Committee returns to partner with the Fostering Futures Scholarship with a celebration in honor of Juneteenth.

All money raised goes to the Fostering Futures Scholarship Trust Fund, which annually awards scholarships to young adults who have experienced foster care and are enrolled in Michigan colleges and universities. Since 2012, various fundraising efforts have raised more than $1.3 million for the Fostering Futures Scholarship Trust Fund.

?A growing number of our youth are reaching adult age and leaving the foster care system with inadequate resources to attend college,? said?Robin Lott, executive director of the state?s Office of Postsecondary Financial Planning. ?We know that Michiganders have big hearts that will grow even bigger as we raise funds for Michigan?s foster youth.?

Students who receive this scholarship can use the money for tuition, housing, books and other college expenses. Funds raised through the?Fostering Futures Scholarship Trust Fund?provide scholarships to young adults who have experienced foster care and are enrolled at a Michigan degree-granting college or university. Awards are paid to the students? college or university for expenses.

More than 10,000 youth are in the Michigan foster care system run by Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Fewer than 10% of former foster youth nationally enroll in school after high school and fewer than 3% eventually earn a degree.

The Pizza Party on the Capitol Lawn is sponsored by Hungry Howie?s, Park West Foundation, Michigan Student Financial Aid Association, Michigan College Access Network, LAFCU, G?d Marketing, the Michigan Association of Broadcasters, WLNS-TV 6, CATALIS and MSU Federal Credit Union and supported by partnerships with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Treasury Black History Committee and Michigan Youth Opportunities Initiative.

The Pillow Effect, a Michigan Youth Opportunities Initiative project, will again collect new standard pillows and pillowcases during the event. Because children entering foster care often don?t have their essential personal items with them, The Pillow Effect provides pillows to foster care youth in Berrien, Calhoun, Clinton/Eaton, Ingham, Ionia/Montcalm, Jackson, Livingston and Macomb counties. Financial donations are also welcome.

Can?t attend, but want to make a difference?

Donate or register online using a credit card?or to make a donation?by check, complete and submit the?Fostering Futures Scholarship Contribution Form?along with a check made payable to the State of Michigan?Fostering Futures Scholarship.?

Contributions made by Dec. 31 are eligible for a tax deduction on your federal and state income tax form in the year they are made. As an IRC Section 170(c) organization, all donations to MET?s Fostering Futures?Scholarship Trust Fund?are tax deductible.

Administered by the Michigan Department of Treasury, MET is the state?s Section 529 prepaid tuition program that allows for the purchase of future college tuition credits based on today?s rates. MET, Michigan Education Savings Program (MESP) and MI 529 Advisor Plan (MAP), Michigan?s three Section 529 college savings programs, offer Michigan taxpayers a state income tax deduction on contributions and potential tax-free growth on earnings if account proceeds are used to pay for qualified higher education expenses.

More information about MET is available at?SETwithMET.com?or 800-MET-4-KID (800-638-4543).

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