The Selig Scholars program was developed out of proceeds from Major League Baseball from the 2002 All-Star Workout Day at Miller Park. Currently there are over 30 Selig Scholars college students in the program who each of whom has received a $10,000 scholarship award. The program was named in honor of former Brewers president and current baseball commissioner, Allan H. (Bud) Selig who always stressed that education is the key to success for young people.

"Each year we select between five and 10 students," Sprangers said. "We use two key components to evaluate the applicants: financial need, and a willingness to attend a college or university in Wisconsin. Our goal is to keep our best and brightest young people here so that they can contribute to our communities and be our future leaders."

In addition, Selig Scholars are offered opportunities to intern with the Brewers organization and work part-time while advancing towards graduation. An application will be made available on the club's Web site early next year for students interested in applying for scholarships in 2008.

Brewers Charities also has made significant progress in donating funding to local area youth baseball programs, including, in cooperation with the United Community Center and the Milwaukee County Parks Department, some $30,000 in 2007 for improvements to the Felix Mantilla Little League Fields located in Baran Park in Milwaukee.

"We support a number of youth baseball organizations, and in some cases we support with our own dollars or we do it in conjunction with our players. This year we had more player support than we've ever had before for our youth baseball programs. As a result of that we are providing hundreds of thousands of dollars to a number of local youth baseball leagues," said Sprangers.

"Because of support of our players and our fans, we were able to make some ball field improvements to Felix Mantilla Little League Fields. We provided $30,000 worth of improvements last year and our goal is to add a ball field redevelopment program to Brewers Charities starting this year."

Sprangers said that the organization has heard from contacts within the community and around the state that baseball is seeing a surge in popularity and interest. As a result, "ball field redevelopment and supporting youth baseball and softball will continue to be hallmarks of the (charities) programs," she said.

The Money Savvy Generation program is designed to make efforts to educate students on the importance of fiscal responsibility. Brewers Charities, in conjunction with the Money Savvy Foundation and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Economic Education are instructing teachers how to educate students on the basic concepts of saving, spending, donating and investing finances.

"Through this program, we are trying to teach our young people how to be smart with money," said Sprangers. "(Brewers pitcher) Chris Capuano has a degree in economics from Duke University-Phi Beta Kappa. So, Chris was the perfect spokesman for our Money Savvy Generation program.

Sprangers has set lofty business goals for the future and does not see possibility of raising $1 million per year for charitable efforts in Milwaukee and throughout the state as unrealistic.

"I would love to tell you that in the very near future, we will be able to say that we are putting a million dollars a year back into our community each year. I don't think that is an impossible goal to reach. When we get generous players like (Brewers' pitcher) Jeff Suppan who is donating $100,000 annually to Brewers Charities along with civic-minded investors like (principal owner) Mark and Debbie Attanasio, I have no doubt we can get there.

Sprangers would also like to see the continued addition of educational and recreational pieces to the Brewers Charities puzzle.

"(We're) looking to continually add to our menu of programs, whether they're educational pieces, recreational pieces so that our programs continue to touch more young lives and more families. Baseball is a family sport and all you have to do is go to a youth baseball game and watch how many families are sitting in the stands. As our team performance improves, so should our impact off the field. The money that we spend on our youth recreation and youth education programs is really an investment in our community. The more funds we can raise, the greater impact we can have."

Certainly, the Brewers Charities president will not be looking for new employment any time soon as she absolutely loves her line present of work.

"I have the good fortune of getting up every day knowing that I have been blessed with a wonderful career opportunity. I love what I do and the Milwaukee Brewers and Brewers Charities have provided me with an opportunity to make a real difference in our community. When I get a thoughtfully written thank you from one of our scholarship recipients or a hand-made card from a child who attended one of our games, what could be better than that?"