The Frank Rinaldi Community Service Scholarship

II. Information about the benefactor: Frank graduated in 1971 from the second graduating class at the then Cecil Community College. He went on to hold many different jobs for the next 15 years, all of which served him well in becoming prepared for the job he was ultimately meant to do, forming and opening the Ray of Hope Mission Center located outside of Port Deposit. The business skills he obtained at Cecil were vital to his ability to open a business from scratch with little to no outside support in the very beginning. The mission provides food, clothing, and help with various other needs, such as medical help, housing assistance, utility support, for the less fortunate in our community. He began with three hundred dollars in the bank and in less than 5 years grew a business with a yearly budget exceeding three hundred thousand dollars. He was grateful for the skills he learned at Cecil College and he gave all the credit for his accomplishments to the Lord.

Frank and I met in the parking lot of the Elkton High School, which is where Cecil College was housed at the time. Neither one of us was too interested in the other and we just said “Hello” and went our separate ways. But God had other plans and brought us back together and we were married the day I was supposed to be attending my college graduation from Towson. We were married for 47 years. He passed away on August 7, 2020. He wanted his life to make a difference in this world, and it did. This scholarship will enable him to continue to make a difference in the lives of those in our community and in the students Cecil College is preparing for the future. I know he would be honored to know that this scholarship has been formed and that in some small way he will continue to serve others with financial support to make their visions for their futures become a reality as well.