Family creates scholarship to memorialize their son.
Joe Kareta ’10 was the kind of guy people turned to
when they needed help, and that’s why he wanted to be a police officer.
But Kareta never got to join a force.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Westfield State in 2010, and only three months later, he was struck by a drunken driver while walking to the mailbox at his aunt’s house in South Hadley, and he died from his injuries.
“The greatest joy I have left anymore is talking about Joe,” his father, Fred Kareta of Westfield, says. “I can’t talk to him, and I can’t talk with him, so I talk about him. It’s kind of like therapy.”
To honor their late son, Fred and Kathy Kareta have created a scholarship in his memory.
In collaboration with the Westfield State Foundation, Inc., the Kareta family has created the Joe Kareta Scholarship. Any high school senior or present Westfield State student from Hampden or Hampshire county who is studying criminal justice and demonstrates a financial need, a track record of volunteerism in their community and has a grade point average of 3.0 or higher, will be eligible to apply for the funds.
Since the accident, Fred Kareta says his family has been raising money and holding fundraisers in Joe’s name.
Through events such as the Leprechaun Plunge, in which fundraisers jump in the Connecticut River in March to raise pledge money; benefit dinners at the Summit View in Holyoke and through private donations, the Karetas have raised over $70,000. Their goal is to raise $100,000.
Kandyce Aust, the acting director of the Westfield State Foundation, says the University was pleased with the family’s gift.
“Joe Kareta was a talented and remarkable young man who continually gave to others,” she says. “The Kareta Scholarship enables the family and the Westfield State community to remember and honor Joe and celebrate his legacy. It is an honor to help steward this scholarship fund in his name.”
The 2013 scholarship recipients were Angelo Burgos ’15, Christopher Snyder ’17 and Bryan Cedrone ’16.
Fred Kareta says he hopes the scholarship will help others launch, or finish, their degree programs.
Setting up a memorial scholarship is just one of the many ways that families like Joe’s give to the University.
The Westfield State Foundation offers a number of ways to donate, including cash donations, planned gifts, deferred gifts and combination gifts, as well as retirement and life insurance gifts.
“Long after we’re gone, Joe’s scholarship will still be awarded,” Kareta says. “Joe will stay with us and live on through his name and his scholarships.”
