Trovato's project, started as a senior thesis, helps children of veterans killed in war.
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Former UMass hockey captain Peter Trovato celebrates a goal. His post-hockey career goal is to pay full tuition costs for children of Massachusetts veterans killed in war.Image may be NSFW.
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Peter TrovatoAMHERST - Former University of Massachusetts hockey captain Peter G. Trovato started a multimillion-dollar fund that helps children of veterans killed in war from his Brett dorm room with a $50 donation.
The Massachusetts Soldiers Legacy Fund has grown to more than $3 million, and the need is not going away.
Trovato, who was one of five finalists for the 2005 Hockey Humanitarian Award, has received all kinds of attention for the work of the legacy fund he founded, and was featured on a segment on the “Today” show on Memorial Day.
He gets requests to begin chapters in other states, something he said he’s not ready to do.
Initially, the project began as a capstone thesis service project in Commonwealth College, where he studied political science and journalism, graduating in 2005.
Trovato spent the summer between his junior and senior years working for state Rep. Michael F. Rush, D-West Roxbury. Part of Trovato’s job “was to keep him updated” on the news, including stories about soldiers who had been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Those stories were the most touching, Trovato said, especially the stories of the soldiers who had children.
He realized what the service project would be when he returned to school in the fall of 2004 - helping with the education bills for children whose mothers or fathers had died.
Initially the goal was to provide $5,000 per year, but that amount has grown to $10,000 to each student per year of school.
While the offering has grown, so have the numbers of children who are eligible for the fund’s assistance. Initially there were 19; now 66 are eligible.
No one knows how many more might need the help. It’s a legacy fund, so all the children will receive help no matter how many years from now they will attend college. Trovato said the fund can also help children who want to go to a trade school.
“We’d love to pay full tuition costs for all these children,” he said.
When he started, he said, “I underestimated the reach we would have with families and the donors. I think our growth is a testament to the just underlying cause. It’s not a hard thing,” to donate, regardless of one’s stance on the wars.
Trovato said he understood the importance of college aid. “I was on a hockey scholarship. I was relatively OK shooting the hockey puck.” So he wanted the fund “to give a piece of what I had.”
Both of Trovato’s grandfathers served in the military, and his uncle was in Vietnam. He himself was admitted to West Point, recruited for his hockey skills, he said.
He opted not to go, but said “that visit stuck with me.” Derek Hines, a hockey player for West Point, was his tour leader that day. Hines, from Newburyport, was later killed in Afghanistan. Trovato said he would have been deployed as well.
He said at this point he doesn’t see the organization opening chapters in other states. “We have a job to do in Massachusetts ... to stay true to our initial plan. “It’s been great to see it grow. It’s been great to issue grants ... guaranteeing them that (their) sacrifice won’t go unnoticed.”
So far the fund has not yet assisted children of Western Massachusetts soldiers who have died, he said.
Trovato, who was an associate at Summit Partners, a private equity and venture capital firm, will attend Harvard Business School in the fall. He’s not yet sure what he will do after that.
Anyone wishing to help should send donations to the Massachusetts Soldiers Legacy Fund, P.O. Box 2718, Amherst, MA 01004-2718 or visit the fund’s website at www.mslfund.org.