Dear Student,
In 1959, Reverend Dr. Mozel Sanders was appointed pastor of the Mount Vernon Missionary Baptist Church in Indianapolis. Reverend Sanders worked diligently to provide for his church and local community. He received much recognition, but he is perhaps best known throughout the state of Indiana for feeding families through the annual Mozel Sanders Thanksgiving Day Dinner.
After Reverend Mozel Sanders’ passing in 1988, his son, Reverend Roosevelt Sanders, formed the Mozel Sanders Foundation (MSF) in order to continue his father’s legacy. The Reverend Roosevelt Sanders departed from this earth in the summer of 2010.
Now, 52 years after the Foundation’s inception, under the leadership of Reverend Roosevelt Sanders’ son, CEO Stephen Mozel James Sanders and wife COO Stephanie Sanders, the Mozel Sanders tradition continues to grow. Thanks to our leaders, donors, community partners, and volunteers, the Thanksgiving Day Dinner event serves more than 40,000+ hot meals from 30+ satellite locations to families across Marion County in Central Indiana. The Reverend Roosevelt Sanders Educators Award is another example of the continuation of the beliefs of the late Reverend Dr. Mozel Sanders.
After a brief hiatus, this scholarship program was relaunched in 2008 with the support of the Financial Center First Credit Union. In the past, our goal has been to inspire students to unlock their potential and achieve their dreams; to empower students to believe in themselves; to succeed beyond their circumstances, and to move forward toward a responsible and prosperous future. This scholarship was created to provide needed financial assistance to local students who are desirous of pursuing a quality education. Without financial assistance, many minority and low-income students would not achieve this goal.
