The late John W. Tanner, a Dearborn resident for 45 years and a lawyer who worked in the city of Dearborn’s legal department, gave to our community in numerous ways. From his work serving on the board of directors of the Dearborn Goodfellows and Smoke on the Grill charity organization to Scouting and being active in Dearborn Lions football, Tanner was passionate about giving back to the city he called home.
Thanks to his daughter, Alison Anhut, his giving ways will continue.
She and her family are on the committee for The John Tanner Dearborn Youth Football Association (DYFA) Scholarship and are turning to friends, family and residents for support to expand the scholarship opportunity to all Dearborn high school students. Tanner, an Edsel Ford graduate, was one of the founding members of the DYFA. After his death at just 54 on Oct. 7, 2008, the DYFA awarded a scholarship to one DYFA athlete in his name.
The DYFA now wants to make the $1,000 scholarship an annual tradition and expand it to one graduating senior from each of Dearborn’s three high schools (Dearborn, Edsel Ford and Fordson) who have continued to play football throughout high school, completed two years of the DYFA program (in either football or cheerleading) and are pursuing a college education.
The idea to expand the scholarship to three was School Board member Hussein Berry’s (president of the DYFA board) and Jamal Al’s, who approached Tanner’s wife, Beverly, and asked if the Tanner family would like to be involved. Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., and Councilman Robert Abraham, among many others in our city, also are on the committee helping to raise funds to support the scholarship.
“My family and I are honored and are looking forward to carrying on my father’s name within this organization,” Anhut said. “My dad was one of the founding fathers of the DYFA and dedicated to its success. He was very passionate about charity work in general. My family and I cannot think of a better way to honor him and his vision than to continue working hard to serve and support the DYFA and our community.”
Here is where friends, family and residents can help.
To help raise funds for the scholarship, a dinner is going to be held on March 25th at 6 p.m. at Park Place in Dearborn. Tickets are $30 per person. There also will be a raffle at the dinner where a $5 ticket purchase could win you a first prize payout of $2,500, $1,500 for second and $1,000 for third. The plan is to sell just 3,000 tickets but if a minimum of 2,000 are not sold the raffle will revert to a 50/50. Monies raised also will be distributed to the DYFA to keep registration fees nominal and to continue to encourage youth participation.
In addition, plans are in place to hold a silent auction (donations for auction items are still being accepted) and there is the opportunity for those wanting to advertise in the March 25 dinner program, as well.
With everyone’s schedule pretty packed these days, attending an evening dinner may not be so easy to do. If that is the case, you can simply purchase a raffle ticket to help the cause or do both. All you have to do is contact Alison Anhut at azd18@yahoo.com or her mother, Beverly Tanner at tanner@ameritech.net
It’s all for a good cause and helps support the DYFA, an organization that continues to improve and help develop kids ages 8 to 13 with the ideas of teamwork, hard work and positive influence.
