THE BEGINNING – EARLY 1980s

• A TDA Advisory Committee appointed by TDA President, Kennon Moffitt, met to elect officers to establish the TDA Foundation.
• Prior to that time, the TDA had a scholarship committee, which awarded scholarships in Texas. The TDA was interested in establishing the TDA Foundation for several reasons:
  • TDA needed to separate TDA administrative money from donations for scholarships. IRS regulations “encouraged” a separate organization for that purpose so that contributions could be tax deductible.
  • TDA wanted to model itself after the ADA, which had formed the ADA Foundation as a separate organization.

• • Nell Robinson, the first Director of the TDA Foundation, mailed a letter to all district dietetic association presidents, announcing the formation of the TDA Foundation (TDAF), outlining the goals of TDAF and encouraging contributions.
  • Brenda Knowles was the first TDAF Director-Elect and Joy Dubinski was the first TDAF Secretary/Treasurer.
  • The first endowed scholarships for TDAF were originally TDA scholarships which were moved to the TDA Foundation in 1983 – the Elmira Belcha and Mozelle Craddock scholarships. Interest from those endowed funds still provides annual scholarships.

MID 1980s

• • March 1984: The first TDA Foundation scholarships (five scholarships totaling $2,500) were awarded.
  • 1987: The Big Hat scholarship was started at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas.