Our heart knows these gals will make a difference!

For the last couple of years in February, we’ve been making a push to increase awareness of womens’ heart disease issues, and have been donating to the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign. We wanted to have a more direct impact this year, did some research and have selected the Go Red for Women Multicultural Scholarship Fund for our community giving efforts this February. We read through some of the stories from the 2013 scholarship winners and fell in love with some of these gals! We love their determination for learning and their passion for helping and serving others. They are amazing young women and we know they will have an amazing impact on others in their careers!

Whittney Work has always dreamed of being a neonatal nurse. Whittney grew up in a household with two other sisters and a single mother working hard to keep the family afloat. To help out, Work began shifts as a waitress at sixteen to help support her family. “Although it was challenging and tiring, I managed to graduate with honors, and I am now the first child in my family to attend a university,” states Work. Currently, Work maintains a part-time job, is enrolled in 13 credit hours of classes, and does clinical nursing rotations — all while maintaining a 3.8 GPA. The scholarship helps Work pay for tuition. “Because I come from a low-income family, my mother can’t contribute to my education the way she’d like.”

Jainty John also stole our hearts after we read her story of growing up in a village where “disease and medical problems were more common than medicine and doctors.” John is currently studying to be a physician’s assistant and is enrolled in the graduate physician’s assistant program at Le Moyne College. To help pay her tuition, John works two jobs at a hospital and interns at a dental clinic during the summer. The scholarship helps lessen the burden for John so she can focus more on her studies.

And Myo-Sabai Aye, who is pursuing a rigorous M.D./Master’s in Public Heath at Eastern Virginia Medical School. Aye, an immigrant from Burma, learned English by studying children’s books. She went on to graduate from the University of Virginia and greatly appreciates the scholarship as it allows her to cut back on her hours as an interpreter for the International Refugee Committee, work she loves doing, but doesn’t have time for with the rigorous curriculum of her program.

We hope that our contribution will help other women like Work, John and Aye, so they can realize their dreams of serving others.

For the month of February, Salon Khouri will donate $1 from every haircut to the Go Red for Women Multicultural Scholarship Fund. You will also have the opportunity at checkout to donate an additional $1, $3, or $5.