Dr. Harvey A. Allen and his wife, Judy M. Allen, spent their lives educating others in
various capacities. Dr. Allen retired from his life-long career as a professor in the Education Department of the University of South Carolina. At that time, he had also taught the JOY Class at Shandon UMC for half a century. His wife Judy had taught the 4-year-old class for over 40 years, so that together they had taught at Shandon UMC for 90 years. As Dr. Allen approached his 50th year of teaching at Shandon, the JOY Class established the Allen Fund in honor of Dr. Allen and in memory of Judy Allen for their amazing dedication to Shandon United Methodist Church and to teaching. The JOY Class and other grateful church members have contributed to the Allen Fund in hopes of continuing the educational efforts of Dr. and Mrs. Allen at Shandon. The class then organized a committee (hereinafter called the “Allen Committee” or “the Committee”), and charged it with the responsibility of making educational assistance grants to students in need of such assistance in colleges, technical, and professional schools who are members of Shandon UMC, Epworth Children's Home Students, or children of Methodist foreign missionaries supported by Shandon UMC. Such grants are hereinafter referred to as “Allen Grants.
Although the financial amount of Allen Grants may vary from year to year, it is presently contemplated that initially such awards will be no more than $1,000 each, but such amount may from time to time be smaller or greater. At the discretion of the Committee, awards may be made in each calendar year, depending upon the size of the Allen Educational Fund and the amount of income the Allen Fund's investments have earned that year. Please note that unlike years past, the next awards will be made only once for the academic year of 2026-2027 but can be applied to either the fall or spring semester. Shandon members, Epworth students, and students of foreign missionaries supported by Shandon UMC may apply for such awards using the application below.
Priority will be given to first-time applicants. If funds remain after grants are made to first-time applicants, additional grants will be considered for students who have previously received Allen Grants in priority order based on the number of grants previously made to each applicant. Those who have received Allen grants a fewer number of times will have priority over applicants who have received Allen grants a greater number of times.
Completed, signed applications may be submitted and will be transmitted to the Allen Committee, which will consider every timely and completely completed application. All such applications for each academic year must be submitted by the published deadline. The attached questionnaire contains additional instructions.
All applicants shall be notified within 30 days following the deadline for submissions as to the decision by the Committee. The committee will not respond to any post-award questions as all information submitted by Applicants is deemed confidential, and all Committee deliberations are also deemed confidential.
The Committee also may:
(1) approve or deny Allen Fund grant requests for any reason or for no reason at all.
(2) generally limit approval of grants to a maximum of $1,000.
(3) at the Committee's discretion, an award may be made by check payable to the student or the educational institution. Confirmation that an awardee has been accepted as a student by an educational institution shall be submitted to the Committee.
(4) If no request for payment to an educational institution is received by the Committee prior to the end of the academic year granted, the payment guarantee shall forever lapse.
No additional material may be submitted, and no such additional material will be considered by the Committee unless requested on the Questionnaire.