OUR STORY

In 1984, Dr. Richard McDermott, an Associate Professor of Accounting was approached with a request that he help prepare a budget for a family friend who was approaching divorce. This lady had never handled the household finances, and had no marketable skills.
After evaluating the small amount of money she would be receiving for alimony and child support, Richard and his wife decided they would help this lady go back to school to obtain a degree that would allow her to earn a living wage. Through this experience, Richard became aware of the terrible educational, financial, emotional problems women have when they lose a husband either through death or divorce.
As a result of this, he approached a close friend and business associate, Dr. Carlyle Harmon, for funding for a private operating foundation that would pay for tuition and other educational expenses for single mothers, with dependent children, who were enrolled or planned to be enrolled in an educational program that would increase their earning power.
Dr. Harmon was a former vice president of Johnson & Johnson and upon his retirement held 300 patients, the most prominent of which were for the first and third generation of nonwoven fabrics, and the material used in diapers and women’s products. At one time, every diaper in the world was manufactured under Dr. Harmon’s patient.
The Carlyle and Delta Harmon Foundations was formed with a $1,350,000 donation from Dr. Harmon, and since that time Richard has served as a non-paid president and chairman of the board of directors. Since its formation, the foundation has awarded scholarships to over 500 single mother heads of household.
In 2021 the funds in the original foundation had essentially been spent for scholarships and so Richard decided to covert the private operating foundation to a 501(c)(3) public charity that will allow the foundation to solicit donations.   The application for an IRS ruling was submitted October 28, 2021.
Richard will serve as a non-paid chairman of the board and president of the public charity that will do business under a DBA of the Harmon Hope Foundation. The criteria for scholarship applicants will remain the same.