The Project
The DC Stanfa Memorial Writers' Award covers registration, travel and hotel expenses to the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop for two writers who demonstrate financial need and would benefit from the encouragement Erma Bombeck received when her University of Dayton English professor told her three magical words: “You can write!” The award is named after DC Stanfa, a writer, humorist and long-time attendee who died unexpectedly in January 2021. The fund was started with generous gifts from her husband, Tom Schonecker, and daughter, Cori Hedrick, and bolstered by additional private support from family, friends and workshop attendees.
DC *always* supported and encouraged the dreams of writers. This award is her legacy. Tom Schonecker and a donor who wishes to remain anonymous have promised to match every dollar raised, up to $5,000, between now and Dec. 1 to help us build the endowment for the award. Our stretch goal is $10,000.
Who We Are
The Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop is the only workshop in the country devoted to humor and human interest writing. Our mission is simple: to encourage and inspire writers in the same way Erma Bombeck found encouragement and inspiration at the University of Dayton. Its mantra is timeless: “You can write!”
The Impact
In 2022, the workshop's selection committee awarded the inaugural DC Stanfa Memorial Writers' Award to two writers, chose a recently widowed mother of five children for a complimentary in-person registration and gave a select number of virtual package registrations to applicants who needed financial help.
What Your Gifts Will Do
We are building the endowment for this award so that we can continue to bring deserving writers to every workshop. All funds raised in this campaign will help to provide financial support for writers, especially underrepresented ones.
"DC would consider contributions to this new award to be not just a fabulous honor and tribute, but also an incredible reflection of caring and encouragement for others," said her sister, Sherry Stanfa-Stanley.
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Thanks for Your Support!
Donation Match
$1 per $1 donated up to $5,000
Match Complete!
Offered by Anonymous
Donation Match
$1 per $1 donated up to $5,000
Match Complete!
Offered by Tom Schonecker
With two hours to spare (and with two extra dollars), we hit the $15,000 mark in our crowdfunding campaign to boost the endowment for the DC Stanfa Memorial Writers’ Award.
To be precise, we raised $15,002 from 87 donors in 22 states.
Whew! And wow!
Thank you to DC’s family and friends — and the Erma Nation. You are creating a legacy for a beloved writer, DC Stanfa, while helping promising writers with financial need attend the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop that she loved. That’s a gift!
We wish you a holiday season filled with love and laughter.
733 days ago by Teri RizviThank you for your support of the DC Stanfa Memorial Writers’ Award endowment crowdfunding campaign! We’re overwhelmed by the generosity of DC’s family, friends and the Erma community.
With three hours left in the campaign, we need just $398 to push our total to $15,000. Two donors will match, dollar for dollar, all gifts.
Please consider sharing the link and spreading the word on social media to help us reach this final goal. Contributions of any size will bring this campaign home.
Thank you for creating a legacy for a beloved writer, DC Stanfa, while helping promising writers with financial need attend the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop that she loved.
733 days ago by Teri Rizvi
We surpassed our stretch goal of $10,000, thanks to the generosity of family, friends and fellow writers, but it’s not too late to join our crowdfunding campaign — and help writers with financial need attend our workshop.
To date, we’ve raised $13,502, helped by $5,000 matching gifts from DC’s husband, Tom Schonecker, and an anonymous donor. These donors will continue to match, dollar for dollar, the next $1,498 in gifts until midnight on Thursday, Dec. 1.
Thank you for helping us boost the endowment for the DC Stanfa Memorial Writers’ Award — and for your belief in the magical, transformative power of the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop.
735 days ago by Teri Rizvi
When we set a stretch goal of $10,000 for the DC Stanfa Memorial Writers' Award campaign, it was a real stretch. Now that we've topped $9,200, we're all Ted Lasso.
Thank you, Erma Nation! Let's bring this campaign home. #believe
735 days ago by Teri Rizvi
At the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop, we support the dreams of writers — ALL writers. That’s what the DC Stanfa Memorial Writers’ Award is all about. Creating a legacy. Supporting dreams.
It's #Giving Tuesday, and we’ve set an ambitious, crazy stretch goal of $10,000 because the generosity of the Erma community knows no bounds. Every gift of any size makes a difference.Let's bring laughter to the world by helping talented writers attend our life-changing workshop. Let's honor the legacy of DC Stanfa, a longtime attendee who knew the transformative power of the written word.
Please help us spread the word — and thank you for your generosity.
As we approach the halfway mark in our fundraising campaign, Sherry Stanfa-Stanley, DC's sister and writer extraordinaire, encourages us to "bring more joy into the world." And here's how she says we can do that:
— Support promising humor writers, because God knows we need more laughter in our lives.
— Honor a funny and generous writer who left this world far too soon.
— Accomplish both of these through a contribution of any size to the DC Stanfa Memorial Writers’ Award at the Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop.
Your gift will encourage and aid award recipients like the three talented writers pictured here (wearing DC’s signature Will Dance for Margaritas hats) in their writing journey. And, as DC strongly believed, your kindness and generosity are sure to bring you some damn good karma.
Two donors will match all donations made now through Dec. 1. Make your gift here: https://www.givecampus.com/a5nk3p
Thank you. 
With the late DC Stanfa's family in the audience, emcee Leighann Lord shared what the DC Stanfa Memorial Writers’ Award meant to Celeste Connor, a first-time attendee from Dothan, Alabama. There wasn't a dry eye in the room.
"This scholarship has gotten me through a tough year," Celeste told workshop organizers. "I listen to a weekly podcast that ends, 'What is saving your life right now?' For 2022, it's been Erma. When I've wanted to despair, I remember that I'm going to the workshop and take deep breaths. My millennial children remind me when I'm down, 'Erma, Mama! You've got Erma!' (Partly in jest, but also in full sincerity.) I think of DC as a friend. But for her, I wouldn't be able to be here."
Thanks to two $5,000 challenge grants — one from DC's husband, Tom Schonecker, and the other from a donor who wishes to remain anonymous — we're building the award's endowment during November. In 2023, we will accept applications from writers who demonstrate financial need, especially underrepresented ones, and make two or more all-expenses-paid trips to the workshop in spring 2024.
Thank you for your generosity!
764 days ago by Teri RizviDonors
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