By Michelle Donaghey Correspondent
BREMEN —  It’s hard to believe for those who have been there for the past 20 years, but this is will be the 20th year the Bremen Dollars For Scholars Phone-A-Thon will have students picking up phones at Bremen High, asking those in the community to step forward to help fund the annual scholarship campaign.

Anita Eichinger, a Bremen Dollars for Scholars Board member who is presenting coordinator of the Phone-A-Thon, said that while she hasn’t been involved with the group since it began, she has been part of it for around eight or nine years.
“I got involved not only because it benefitted my family directly (two daughters received scholarships from the program) but because it is and was a way to give back to the program. Now my husband and many co-workers and friends also help with the Phone-A-Thon,” said Eichinger.
Eichinger knows that it takes many volunteers to make the program what it is. In 2004-2006, there were at least 44 students who helped man the phones during the evening event. While cell phones might be able to generate more money, she notes that some people who have caller ID might not answer the call if they would not know who is on the other end.
The event is coordinated around a month in advance. This year, the sign up sheet was posted on Monday, Feb. 9 at the high school asking for 24 student pairs. Two shifts are set up with 12 pairs working each shift. Calling times are from 6 to 9 p.m. with training for Shift One beginning at 5:30 p.m. Students who volunteer get community service hours for helping out.
“You probably know how many want those, especially the juniors and seniors who are able to opt out of some finals with all the proper paperwork,” she noted.
Another “incentive” for students to volunteer is that there are four $100 scholarships offered to the members of the two student teams, one from each shift, that get the highest amount pledged.
“They receive that scholarship when they are seniors and if they are going on to a college or vocational school,” said Anita.
Besides the top teams’ scholarships, all who help out receive another “perk” for their work and time.
“Everyone that helps, students and adults, is offered pizza and pop. Several years ago we also giving each student $5 in movie money,” explained the Phone-A-Thon coordinator.
For those who are usually called between 9 and 9:30 p.m., be prepared this year to receive an earlier call.
“This year we are moving it up half-hour. The students are calling from 6 to 9 p.m. We used to call from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. but we noticed that the 9 to 9:30 p.m. time really got slow and so we thought it might also be too late for some people to be answering their phones,” said Anita.
Lists are given out at random with each pair getting a portion on the list. Anita said that she thinks parents of those students calling are taken off the list so those calling can call their own parents or grandparents. The students are not to call long distance without the OK of Bruce Jennings or Troy Holmes.
The words students say to each caller is actually a script that is written up for them to say when they call. They have answers for yes or no to the question of whether or not they know what Dollars for Scholars is, whether they can send information about DFS and information on how they will send an envelope if they give including asking for their address. Every caller is thanked and no pledges are refused.
“They can pledge any amount,” said Eichinger.
Those who are not going to be home or need information on donating can make their check payable to Dollars for Scholars and send it to Dollars for Scholars, P.O. Box 144, Bremen, IN 46506.
Students who receive responses for pledges fill out response sheets which are taken to adult volunteers that night. “Those volunteers then address an envelope, put the response card and a reply envelope in it, stamp it and it goes out in the mail the next day,” said Eichinger, who added that Bremen Public Schools employees get their envelopes in their in-house mailboxes at the school. Donations usually start coming in almost immediately.
“Kerry Huff and the previous treasurer, Carolyn Miller, have said the response envelopes with the donations inside start arriving in the post office just a day or two later,” said Eichinger with a smile. She said that there is not a goal every year, “but yet it (pledges) have increased in the past five years.”
“It directly benefits Bremen High School students furthering their education either in college or vocational schools,” she said, explaining why everyone should consider helping out during this annual event.