The Starved Rock Country Community Foundation announced the establishment of the Support Our Soldiers Field of Interest Fund.

The fund’s idea, created by Flags of Freedom co-chairman Scott Underwood, resulted from a discussion about offering a “scholarship” to graduating high school students entering the military rather than college or university.

Flags of Freedom leaders and Princeton residents Rodney and Terry Johnson turned to the Starved Rock Country Community Foundation to develop Underwood’s idea and create the fund. The foundation has held the Flags of Freedom Fund for over nine years. Terry Johnson is also an Illinois Valley Quilts of Valor group leader and delivered more than 1,000 quilts to veterans in the past eight years.

The Starved Rock Country Community Foundation contacted the Peru Mall military recruiting office for information regarding what expenses a military recruit incurs prior to the departure date as the idea developed.

“Our assumption was that the military supplies everything and that there are no expenses to a new recruit,” Starved Rock Country Community Foundation founder and interim CEO Pamela Beckett said in a news release. “We learned that recruits receive a ‘packing list’ just prior to leaving with required items to purchase, totaling $150-$200.”

That’s all Rodney and Terry needed to hear and the Support of Soldiers Fund was established.

Financial support will be available to all five Bureau County high schools with assistance from the schools’ guidance office staff.

“The five counselors from Princeton, Bureau Valley, Hall, and Lamoille High Schools along with St. Bede Academy, are excited about this opportunity to provide funding to the recruits who will serve our country,” Beckett said in the release. “We have also arranged for the recruits to be recognized at their school’s Commencement and/or Scholarship Award events alongside those students being recognized for academic achievement.”

“We are so grateful for the relationship we have developed over the years with the Foundation. The Flags of Freedom Fund has flourished and now we are working with the SRCCF again to launch this unique opportunity to honor our youth who have chosen to enlist in our armed forces,” Terry Johnson said in the release.

While funding opportunities are being limited to Bureau County students, the Johnson’s welcome it’s growth to other Starved Rock Country high schools.

“All it takes is a donation to the SOS Fund to keep this fund going and growing,” Rodney Johnson also said in the news release. “Terry and I chose to provide the initial donation and the excitement about this opportunity for our recruits is already contagious!”

To donate to the Support Our Soldiers Field of Interest Fund, visit srccf.org or submit a check via mail to the Starved Rock Country Community Foundation, 116 W. Lafayette St., Suite 2, Ottawa.

For more information, call 815-252-2906.