Jim's Way Scholarship

Jim's Snyder

Over his 50 year tenure at Siena College, Jim dedicated his life to helping others-ESPECIALLY those in need or in low-income areas. He helped start and implement the Big Brothers and Sisters program that later blossomed into the Siena Mentoring Program--which has served thousands of children from the Albany area who were matched to Siena student volunteers. The devotion of generations of Siena students to serving urban youth was a powerful force in Jim's life. He cherished the generosity of spirit of the Siena Community. Jim was monumental in exposing children from high poverty areas to college campuses, and making them believe that they too could go to any college they wanted—with hard work, perseverance and dedication.

Sadly, he passed away from cancer—leaving an indelible impact on the lives of people he came in contact with.

Fast forward three years later, and we at Tru Heart are the fruits of his labor. We are the mentors and mentees of the Siena Mentoring program. He has made a positive impact on all of our lives in one way or another--which is why we have pledged to help keep his name alive. Jim was big on mentoring and helping kids go to college. He used his resources and reputation to help kids growing up in urban areas get into colleges, like Siena. 

Each member of Tru Heart’s board has been deeply affected by Jim's passion to help others—so much that we have started a scholarship fund to help college-bound youth, from underserved the areas of Albany, with the strenuous costs that come with college! It’s called “Jim’s Way” because we are picking up where he left off—doing things his way!