Phyllis and Louis Friedmans’ unwavering generosity and support of the Carson Scholars Fund has spanned over three decades. Both have provided leadership as board members and for a year Phyllis served as the CSF’s executive director.

Early in Phyllis’ career, she was an educator. As a teacher, she had a student who would stay after school to read in her classroom. When Phyllis inquired why she always stayed after school, she learned her home life was less than desirable and the child found reading as a way to escape and feel safe. Around the same time, Phyllis read Dr. Carson’s story, Gifted Hands. She was so inspired by both her student’s and Dr. Carson’s stories, that she reached out to Dr. Carson. The Friedmans’ commitment to education and community has been resolute. As successful attorneys and business owners in the Baltimore area, they have used their influence and generosity to enrich the lives of so many. Through endowments and annual funding the Friedmans have facilitated, the CSF has awarded 163 scholarships to deserving students.

In addition, the Friedmans were instrumental in the development and growth of the Ben Carson Reading Project, our second mission, which began in 2000. As well as funding the first room built at Hall’s Cross Roads Elementary School in Aberdeen, Maryland, the Friedmans took a personal role and collaborated with the school’s principal to design and ensure the success of the reading room. The Friedmans continue to strengthen the project through maintenance, funding rooms and influencing others with regards to the impact of the project. Their commitment to the project, maintaining and funding 11 reading rooms themselves, has influenced the expansion of the program which now encompasses over 270 rooms in 23 states and Washington DC, impacting more than 125,000 students.