Butler junior receives Weidner Endowed Scholarship for Altruism

Matt Pauszek, a junior at Butler University, has been selected as the recipient of the John Weidner Endowed Scholarship for Altruism for 2015-2016.

Pauszek, a risk management and finance major, was chosen based on his extensive volunteer work within his hometown of Indianapolis.

He has served as a lead community partner for the Patachou Foundation, an organization that provides educational opportunities and meals for families in Indianapolis, and has worked as a volunteer with the Gleanors Food Bank, the U.S. Dream Academy, and the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.

He will receive the award during the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences celebration Saturday at 10 a.m. in the Reilly Room.

“Matt submitted an outstanding application,” Jess Butler, an instructor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology, said. “In his essay, Matt wrote about ideas of kinship, dialogue, and responsibility to others, and he reflected quite thoughtfully on his mission to fulfill the values and ideals John Weidner embodied and what the award means to him. We are proud to select a student as deserving as Matt for this honor.”

The distinguished award is named after Weidner, a Dutchman and Seventh Day Adventist who is known for saving the lives of more than 1,000 British and American airmen and Jews, Dutch, Belgians and French who were fleeing Nazi persecution during World War II. Weidner was recognized by several nation’s governments following the war and was honored by the Holocaust Museum in 1993. His wife, Naomi, developed a foundation for carrying on Weidner’s altruistic spirit after his death in 1994.