Yoe Foundation Gets New Gift to Benefit Community

CAMERON-A new named, advised fund to benefit this community has been created by the chairman of Royal Seating Corp. and L. L. Sams, Inc. It is the Walter Brown Dossett Scholarship Fund set up in honor of his father by Walter B. Dossett, Jr., of Waco, chairman of Cameron’s largest private employers. Free assistance on two levels will be offered to seniors and qualifying graduates of Yoe High School seeking financial aid for higher education.

The fund is the newest and largest component fund of C. H. and Caroline Yoe Foundation, a community foundation serving Cameron and Milam County. A community foundation is a pool of tax-exempt donations of all sizes to back charitable, educational, religious, and scientific work that helps the community it serves. It’s a way to give back to a community that has benefited you.

Yoe Foundation will use the Dossett Fund to pay a financial aid consultant to help Yoe High School seniors to apply for state and federal financial aid to attend college. The service is free to students and their families, the application process is free, and the financial assistance, if granted, does not have to be repaid like a college loan. On the other hand, the process requires dedication and personal responsibility on the part of the student, foundation officials say.

The Yoe Foundation procedure involves filling out and mailing, or filing on-line, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). An approved FAFSA is the gateway to both federal and state grants, as well as work-study programs. Filed personal federal income tax returns are an essential part of the course of action.

University juniors and seniors who graduated Yoe High School and show proof from their college financial aid office they applied for and will receive assistance via the FAFSA may apply to the foundation for a grant out of the Dossett Fund. The FAFSA must be renewed yearly throughout a student’s years of higher education.

The Yoe Foundation program is a need-based plan requiring accountability on the part of each student. Size, selection and frequency of grants the final two years will be at the discretion of Yoe Foundation.

The U. S. Department of Education in Washington D.C. and the Higher Education Coordinating Board in Austin give out student financial aid through offices of financial aid at colleges and universities. This includes higher education in technology and other career training. More information is available on-line at www.fafsa.ed.gov and www.collegefortexans.com. Although the Yoe Foundation program is presently available only to YHS seniors and recent graduates, there is no age limit on who may apply for financial aid with the FAFSA.

Namesake of the new Dossett Fund is the late Walter Brown Dossett of Waco, father of the donor, who grew up in Cameron and graduated Cameron High School before the present high school was built. Under the direction of family heads for three generations, the Dossett family has had well-known business interests in Cameron for over 100 years. Andrew J. Dossett bought the Cameron Compress Co. in 1900 from a corporation headed earlier by C. H. Yoe later a community benefactor. The Dossett family also owned cotton compresses in Rosebud and McGregor.

All Saints Episcopal Church at First and Travis in Cameron is a Dossett landmark. Andrew Dossett, using Cameron Compress Co. off-season labor, built the historical structure so his wife, Jennie Brown Dossett, would have an Episcopal Church to worship in.