The ARA Foundation is honoring the American Rental Association’s first president with the new Leonard Hawk Founders Scholarship. The scholarship, worth $3,000, will be awarded to the foundation scholarship program’s top applicant when selection of the 2010/2011 recipients is made next summer.

Hawk is appreciative of this honor.

“When I formed the club of 21, I wanted this,” he said, referring to his original call to rental business owners in 1955 that led to the formation of ARA. “I feel this might live on longer than I will.”

Charlie Neffle, CERP, chair of the ARA Foundation board of trustees, said the trustees wanted to recognize those who created ARA with this new scholarship.

“As a board, we were looking for a way to commemorate the founders of the American Rental Association and particularly Leonard Hawk. He played a key role in the creation of ARA and provided key leadership as the first president,” Neffle said.

Hawk served as ARA president from 1955 to 1958 and was one of the inaugural inductees into the Rental Hall of Fame in 2001. He is retired from his rental business, A-1 Rental Centers, in Moline, Ill., and lives in Silvis, Ill.

The new scholarship is one of 38 total administered by the ARA Foundation. Included are 23 total foundation scholarships as well as those of its affiliate scholarship programs:

ARA Insurance Services, ARA of Ohio, ARA of Texas, the Ron Marshall Scholarships for ARA Region Two and the Dorothy Wellnitz Scholarship for Canada/ARA Region 10.

Applications for all scholarships are now available on the Foundation’s Web site. Separate applications are available for undergraduate, technical/vocational school and graduate school students. All foundation scholarship applicants automatically are considered for the Leonard Hawk Founders Scholarship and any applicable affiliate scholarship. Scholarship applications are due May 1, 2010.

For more information, call 800/334-2177 or visit www.ARAfoundation.com.