Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association was formed during the great expansion of the School, school, and Current Beneficiaries. In order to determine the intended role of the Alumni Association, one must first understand the original design of the Trust, as well as the early history of the Alumni Association. For an explanation of the Trust, refer to Chapter 1; a summary of this material follows in this first section.

The Alumni Association was created as an unincorporated association within the Trust to play an intended, unique, and important role in the lives of the Beneficiaries in fulfillment of the Hersheys’ intent under the Deed of Trust. Just as the community of Hershey was created to serve as the home for the Beneficiaries, so too the Alumni Association was created to serve the School, its students and former students, the School Family, and the Trust as an organization within the Trust.  As part of the School, Hershey, Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association, and the “school” all share a common attribute – each is unincorporated. In fact, it was common to operate businesses, towns, and other organizations without any separate legal existence. What would the School be without the “ideal community” (that is, Hershey, PA) or the school? And what would the School (including the “ideal community” and the school) be without Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association?

As Hershey Estates was created as a centralized means of managing all of the activities that constitute the Hersheys’ Children’s Home,^[1] so too was Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association created as a centralized means of fulfilling the Trust’s School Family Obligations which arise pursuant to each Indenture and Paragraphs 15 and 23 of Milton Hershey’s Deed of Trust.  That is, both Hershey Estates and the Alumni Association were created by the Trust as part of an endeavor to create a self-reliant structure that utilizes all of its own resources to their maximum benefit in order to achieve optimal economic, logistical, and, most importantly, philanthropic results.  Hershey Estates was formed in 1927 with a clear set of purposes:  to consolidate the non-profit activities that serve the Beneficiaries through the Hersheys’ Children’s Home.^[2]  These Hershey Interests serve as operating units of the Trust designed to operate the Hersheys’ Children’s Home Campus and the School.

To understand the intended role of Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association, one should have fresh in their mind the purposes of the Trust and the School Family.  Refer to Section 3.2 for an analysis and discussion of the School Family.  We already know the overall objective of the Trust – to operate the Hersheys’ Children’s Home in perpetuity for the full development of the whole person according to each such person’s unique capabilities, interests, and commitment.  By the late 1920s, M.S. was well on his way to causing the Hersheys’ Children’s Home to be self-reliant in many respects through Hershey Estates.  He had (1) acquired much of the land for the Hershey’s Children’s Home Campus centered in Derry Township (that is, over 10,000 of the total more than 12,000 acres by 1932), (2) established the school as the primary means of delivering services and programs to the Beneficiaries while they lived on such campus, (3) established the School Family to serve as the unique source of its shared and enduring identity, tradition, loyalty, and purpose as a central component of providing a real home for each of the Beneficiaries, (4) established the Hershey Chocolate Corporation and the Hershey Corporation^[3] as the economic engines, (5) established Hershey Estates as the non-profit driven conglomerate that provided all services that operated the self-reliant Hersheys’ Children’s Home Campus and (6) combined all of this as the “permanent institution” or School (which includes the “ideal community”) created pursuant to Milton Hershey’s Deed of Trust to insure that the Beneficiaries would be well served in perpetuity.  By 1930, M.S. had the Hersheys’ Children’s Home well on its way to being efficient and the very best. 

However, there was more to be done pursuant to the Hersheys’ plan to create a self-reliant structure that utilized all of its own resources to their maximum benefit to achieve optimal economic, logistical and philanthropic results.  Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association focused on two core sets of tasks with which the Trust is burdened.  One set revolves around the Trust’s continuing educational mandate; and the other, driven by the Trust’s School Family Obligations.   

The Trust had not yet formally developed a means of enhancing the effectiveness of the Trust in the areas of, among other things, (i) providing certain educational benefits that continue even after one leaves the campus and (ii) fulfilling those responsibilities that center around the long term heath and development of the School Family. Refer to Section 3.2 for a description of the purposes and characteristics of the School Family that further achieve Trust purposes. 

Of course, the creation of Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association was designed as a means of enhancing the effectiveness of the School by having Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association play an important role.  It was created to enhance the effectiveness of the School in these respects just as Hershey Estates was created to enhance the School’s effectiveness in other areas.  Thus, Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association was M.S.’s next formal step in the development of the Trust following M.S.’s creation of Hershey Estates in late 1927.  However, unlike Hershey Estates, Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association’s role was geographically broader and was uniquely suited to enhancing the Trust effectiveness in discharging its Trust’s School Family Obligations. 

The fulfillment of Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association’s purposes is a priority under the mutual covenants and individual undertakings that start when one is first admitted to the School, and such undertakings never terminate.  As discussed in Sections 3.1 and 3.2, the Managers, on behalf of the School, became obligated to provide both Orphans and Scholars Trust’s School Family Obligations, which in turn gives rise to “School Family Benefits.” In Diagram 14: School Family and Milton Hershey's Alumni Association: 1930 ^[4] the central role of Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association is illustrated. Diagram 14 also illustrates the fact that all members have some responsibility for the long term health and development of the School Family.

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For more detail regarding MIlton Hershey's Alumni Association, refer to Chapter 8. Milton Hershey's Alumni Association at Milton S Hershey - "His Deeds are His Monument, His Life is Our Inspiration," by John F Halbleib

 

The clear import of Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association, based on the Constitution, is that:

(i)                 such Alumni Association undertakes responsibility for (a) keeping in touch and corresponding with, keeping a close relationship with, assisting in procuring employment for, and providing other necessary assistance to all Former Students and (b) looking after the general welfare of all Former Good Students, Former Commendable Students, and Alumni Association members;

(ii)               though each of these are continuing responsibilities of Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association, the Constitution clearly states “This association is organized for the purpose of looking after the general welfare of those who were formerly students at The Hershey Industrial School and left there with a good record;”

(iii)             thus, having additional responsibilities must have been viewed as contributing to the general welfare of Former Good Students and Former Commendable Students;

(iv)             membership in Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association is limited to Former Commendable Students from whom the existing Original Alumni Association Members select future Original Alumni Association Members;

(v)               the school (a) determined the Original Alumni Association Members, (b) on an ongoing basis determines which former students fall into particular classifications (that is, Former Student, Former Good Student, and Former Commendable Student)  and (c) thus, determines who of the Former Students is a Former Commendable Student eligible to become an Original Alumni Association Member;

(vi)             Former Commendable Students can only become an Original Alumni Association Member if the existing Original Alumni Association Members vote in favor of such Former Commendable Student;

(vii)           the transition from student to Former Student occurs on the same day as the annual meeting of Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association; and

(viii)         from among this select group of Original Alumni Association Members, they select their own officers or leaders.

 

Of course creation of Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association was designed as a means of enhancing the effectiveness of the Trust by, among other things, (i) providing certain educational benefits that continue even after one leaves the campus and (ii) fulfilling those responsibilities that center around the long term heath and development of the School Family. Refer to Section 3.2 for a description of the purposes and characteristics of the School Family that further achieve Trust purposes.

 

The Alumni Association was created to enhance the effectiveness of the Trust in these respects just as Hershey Estates was created to enhance the Trust’s effectiveness in other respects.  Thus, Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association was Milton Hershey’s next formal step in the development of the Trust following the creation of Hershey Estates in late 1927.  However, unlike Hershey Estates, Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association’s role was geographically broader and was uniquely suited to enhancing the Trust’s effectiveness in discharging its Trust’s School Family Obligations.  Upon creation, the School expanded to include Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association.  See Diagram 7: The Hershey Industrial School: 1930 ^[7] for an illustrated version of the expansion.

 

In fact, the Trust’s creation of the Alumni Association was and remains the most effective means of preserving the institutional School Family the Hersheys created.  In other words, and as is perfectly logical given what the Hersheys sought to achieve with respect to the Beneficiaries, M.S. created his Alumni Association as the institutional mechanism for further achieving the philanthropic mission of the Trust.  Thus, the creation of the Alumni Association marked the beginning of the further fulfillment of these unique attributes of the Hersheys’ philanthropy that were best, and in many cases only, satisfied through Alumni.  Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association is an integral part of the School.

 

3.3(a)(iii)                 Creating and Maintaining a Home and a Family - The School Family

 

Former Students belong to the School Family created by the Hersheys and such Former Students view the School Family as their own.  In anticipation of the formation of Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association, on February 17, 1930 Carl R. Smith, a graduate of the School, wrote the following to Superintendent Copenhaver.^[8] This letter demonstrates that even before Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association was formed, and as it was being formed, there existed an understanding that Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association is to be an “outstanding feature of the school” by helping the boys at the school form definite goals by providing “a close relationship between the student and the graduate” manifesting certain of the Trust’s School Family Obligations.  In summary, (i) Superintendent Copenhaver initiated the process, (ii) graduates discussed the subject, and (iii) in his own words, Smith describes belonging to the School Family and service to the students, the School and the School Family as one of the core purposes of Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association when he writes that an outstanding feature of the school would be the close relationship between the student and the graduate.^[9]  This shared institutional, or School, Family encompasses an attachment to each other, the Hersheys’ Children’s Home, and the Trust no less compelling or real than that of biological families for their biological parents and siblings. Before founding the Hersheys’ Children’s Home, the Hersheys researched other children’s homes and determined that (i) the boys must grow up with a feeling that they have a real home and a real family and (ii) the best environment for this was in a rural, cottage setting, so as to insure the main objective – that each boy becomes successful in life as a person who is moral, religious, truthful, financially responsible, industrious, and, on a self-reliant basis, able to support himself in some occupation or mechanical trade determined by his unique taste, capacity, intelligence, and adaptability.  The Hersheys built these intents into the fabric of the Deed of Trust as demonstrated by M.S.’s fulfillment of the Trust during his lifetime.  The School Family constitutes an essential, central, and intended means of fulfilling the purposes of the Trust, including the School Family Obligations.  The School Family is part of the community to which each Current Beneficiary belongs and is part of the School. 

 

Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association has been delegated and such Alumni Association, its Original Alumni Association Members and its officers have accepted responsibility for the further development and continued excellent health of such School Family by undertaking responsibilities set forth in the Constitution pursuant to the process described in said Constitution.^[10]   

 

The Constitution uses the term “former students” because Milton Hershey’s Deed of Trust made no reference to, nor did it require, graduation from high school. Moreover, some Current Beneficiaries could be discharged upon the request of a parent if it were in the best interest of such Beneficiary.  This could happen upon the occurrence of some event such as the remarriage of a parent.  Moreover, the Constitution contemplates membership comprised of Former Commendable Students without regard to whether or not such students finished a particular program, looking after the general welfare of all Former Good Students, Former Commendable Students, and Original Alumni Association Members without regard to whether or not such students finished a particular program, and  keeping in touch and corresponding with, keeping a close relationship with, assisting in procuring employment for, and providing other necessary assistance to all Former Students without regard to whether or not such students finished a particular program.  Thus, M.S. viewed any Former Student who had participated in any part of the School’s programs as an alumnus of the School without regard to whether or not such student finished a particular program and Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association undertook various types of responsibilities for such Former Students.  In the context of the Hersheys’ Children’s Home, all Former Students constitute “Alumni” and are thus properly viewed as part of the School Family.

 

Alumni are an important component of the School Family.  There are a number of reasons why M.S. intended that Alumni remain an important component of the School Family. Alumni are a material component of the School Family because Alumni (i) are to receive their School Family Benefits, (ii) who remain as Scholars under the Deed of Trust continue to receive other benefits under the Deed of Trust, (iii) serve as a primary source for effective role models in the lives of younger and older Scholars, other Alumni and other members of the School Family, (iv) serve as a primary source for effective leadership in the School, as Managers and in other aspects of the Trust, (v) select other School Family members who deserve recognition for their exceptional service to the School Family and make them honorary alumni, and (vi) as the older Scholars and leaders of the School Family serve to protect the Trust through insisting upon strict adherence to the Deed of Trust, the Hersheys’ intent and the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Through the great vision of M.S. and the other Managers in 1930, the Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association was established as part of the School so as to insure, among other things, that the key roles of Alumni in the School Family are achieved in perpetuity.

 

3.3(a)(iv)                 Certain Benefits are to Continue Beyond Age 18 and High School

 

Here is yet another area where the Hersheys’ philanthropy parallels that which occurs in most healthy biological families. The Hersheys intended the benefits of the Trust would continue for Scholars after Scholars reached age 18 and after receiving a high school education, and the School Family Benefits would continue in favor for all Former Students – that is, Alumni.^[11] That benefits from the Trust continue to be received by Scholars after reaching age 18, after receiving a high school education, as well as by all Former Students and whether or not such Scholar or Former Student remains on the Hersheys’ Children’s Home Campus is significant. This demonstrates that the Trust mirrors that which occurs in most healthy biological families, and further emphasizes the extraordinary importance of the School Family and Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association in the fulfillment of the Trust’s purposes.

 

3.3(a)(v)                   Original Alumni Association Members of Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association Succeed the Hersheys as the Senior Members of the School Family

 

All of the forgoing explains how the Trust was set up to function as a family trust, just like any other family trust.  The relevant family in this instance is the School Family.  Through the Deed of Trust and expecting that the potential and interests of each Current Beneficiary, as well as the demands of society and employers, will vary over time, the Hersheys provided for: (i) the creation and expansion of the Hersheys’ Children’s Home for existing and future Beneficiaries and (ii) benefits while living at the Home and while no longer living at the Home.  As time passes, the School Family continues to grow in size and diversity of taste, capacity, intelligence, and adaptability, and society and employers expect more from each of us.  In addition, the Hersheys understood that, although each of them would eventually die, the School Family must endure and remain well served by the Trust in perpetuity.  With this in mind, M.S. created the Alumni Association whose Original Alumni Association Members would serve as (a) the Hersheys’ successors as the senior members of the School Family from which future leaders would come (whether as Managers, School Administrators, teachers, houseparents, mentors, brothers or sisters in orphanhood, the heads of other Hershey Interests, etc.) and (b) the means of insuring that the School Family would endure, and be well served by the Trust, in perpetuity.  It is worth noting that those who serve in these important roles as Original Alumni Association Members of Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association are duly elected by the then existing Original Alumni Association Members of Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association after having been identified by the School as Former Commendable Students.  Thus, the Original Alumni Association Members were at all times selected by the School and the existing Original Alumni Association Members from the selected population of all Former Commendable Students. 

[1] Refer to Section 1.8 Hershey Estates Operates, and is Part of, the Hersheys’ Children’s Home.