College Scholarships

National Association Scholarships

(For AFM and retail member employees)

National Grocers Association: Women Grocers of America (WGA) is offering at least two academic scholarships worth a minimum of $1,000 each to students intending to pursue a grocery industry-related career. This includes majors in areas such as food marketing management, food service technology, communications and business management/administration. (This does not include majors in the public health and hotel/restaurant fields.) WGA and N.G.A. members and their employees, children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren are eligible for scholarship nomination.

Applicants must attend a U.S. college or university, have a 2.0 grade point average or better and be entering sophomores or continuing students in good standing in a two-year, associate degree-granting institution or four-year, bachelor degree-granting institution or graduate program. To be considered, the completed scholarship application, transcript and other requested material must be postmarked by June 1. Scholarship recipients will be chosen in a lottery from the qualified pool of applicants by the WGA board of directors during their summer meeting.

Application forms are available by contacting the National Grocers Association.

The Asparagus Club Scholarships are one-year awards that range in amount from $500 to $1,500. The awards may be used at any accredited, non-profit college or university in the United States. Applicants must be full-time college students in the fall, have an interest in a career in the grocery industry, have financial need and can make, or are making satisfactory academic progress in college. To request an application, contact by May 1st:

Scholarship Program Administrators, Inc.
P.O. Box 23737
Nashville, TN 37202-3737

International Dairy Deli Bakery Association: IDDBA Food Safety Certification Reimbursement Program

Through the program, IDDBA-member retailers can have a portion of their costs reimbursed for specified training materials, workshops, and food safety certification exams for dairy, deli, and bakery employees who successfully complete a certification exam.

"We hope this program will encourage retail members to certify their dairy, deli, and bakery department managers and associates in food safety. Store managers are often the professionals certified, but we think it's important for perishable managers and associates to also be certified. This IDDBA program supports retailer's efforts to achieve this goal" Mary Kay O'Connor, IDDBA's director of education, said.

International Dairy Deli Bakery Association: IDDBA Undergraduate/Graduate Scholarship Program

The IDDBA Scholarship program was developed in order to support employees of supermarket dairy, deli, and bakery industries, and encourage them to continue in those industries. The IDDBA has awarded many thousands of dollars in scholarships to supermarket dairy, deli and bakery employees since the program's inception in 2001. Awards from $250 to $1,000 per candidate, per semester are available to high school seniors and current or returning college or vocational/technical students. Applicants do not have to be employed only in the dairy, deli or bakery departments to qualify.

Applicants are required to:

1. Be a current employee (during your college school year) of an IDDBA member company. (Affiliated Foods Midwest is a member of IDDBA)
2. Have an academic major in a food-related field, business, or marketing.
3. Have a 2.5 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale, or equivalent (waived for returning adult students).

Application deadlines are January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1. Visit www.iddba.org for further information and an application. If you have questions, call Karen Peckham at IDDBA, 608-238-7908.