Leaders of the Tri-State Italian-American Congress presented a $50,000 check to Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., Archbishop of Newark; Father Stephen J. Fichter, the Archdiocese of Newark’s vicar of education; and Barbara Dolan, superintendent of archdiocesan schools, to fund needs-based scholarships for Catholic school students of Italian heritage during a special June 5 gathering at the Archdiocese’s Newark headquarters.

The funds — which were presented by Louis Vele, the Congress’ president; Ralph A. Contini, the Congress’ executive director and treasurer; and Lawrence R. Inserra, Jr., a Congress board member — will be distributed to 50 Italian-American students who meet the scholarship’s financial requirements. Each child will receive $1,000 for their tuition payments. Recipients were nominated by individual schools.