After year-long fundraising efforts, members of the Oak Point Homeowners Scholarship Fund recently had the satisfaction of awarding $72,500 in scholarships to this year’s area high school graduates.
The fund provided 22 scholarships totalling $57,500 to Middleboro High School graduates, representing 20% of all scholarship dollars awarded at the school this year.
In addition to Middleboro High, the Oak Point fund awarded scholarships and tool ships — grants that reimburse graduates entering the trades for post-graduation tool purchases — at two regional technical schools.
At Bristol County Agricultural High School in Dighton, the fund presented a $1,000 tool ship to a graduating senior. At Bristol Plymouth Regional Technical School in Taunton, it awarded three $3,000 scholarships and five $1,000 tool ships.
The community raised most of this year’s funds through the Oak Point Fabulous Fall Yard Sale, which netted $39,000 in 2024. Additional fundraising came from raffles, car washes and sponsorships, supported by residents and donors including the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots. Longtime partner Muckey’s Liquors in Lakeville has contributed more than $62,000 through a recyclables program since the fund’s establishment over 25 years ago.
The fund began in 1999 when Oak Point resident Ed Beaulieu placed a $5 bill on a table and challenged neighbors to raise $2,000. That first effort funded two $1,000 scholarships for the Middleboro High School Class of 2000 and led to the creation of the Oak Point Homeowners Scholarship Association. With support from residents and original Oak Point developer Gary Darmond, the first community yard sale was launched. The group registered as a nonprofit in November 2020.
Each October, residents hold the yard sale to raise funds for the coming year’s scholarships. Donated goods are collected and stored over several months and sold to the public during a one-day event.
Named scholarships and tool ships sponsored by residents in memory of loved ones now contribute tens of thousands of dollars to the fund each year. Despite the cancellation of yard sales in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, the fund still awarded $29,000 and $26,000, respectively, to the Classes of 2021 and 2022.
With the event’s return in 2022, awards increased to $51,000 for the Class of 2023 and $64,000 for the Class of 2024, culminating in this year’s record-setting total.
