Interviewing sources

My story was about the AACC Foundation, Inc., at the Isaac Cox House. Nobody at the office wanted to help other than the coordinator, Denise McCord. She helped a lot by answering my e-mails because she was harder to reach by phone. Unfortunately, when it came time to talk to donors or scholarship recipients, it was up to me to scour through old foundation newsletters to get a second source for our story. I chose Brian Gill, who owns a catering company called Gill Grilling and created a scholarship for hospitality, culinary and tourism students. He picked up the phone right away and answered about 5 of my questions.

Denise said she would get back to me because I can't contact donors myself due to federal laws, but I didn't have time to sit and wait so that part was annoying. I'm sure I could have found a better source, however, there really wasn't much time and I had to find someone, even a scholarship recipient but it would have been easier with Denise's help because newsletters can only give you so much information. Flynn tried his best too, it was just easier to find someone else on my own due to the deadline. I do not know why she didn't give us a scholarship recipient even though I'm pretty sure we both asked. In the future, I will rely on the phone more than e-mails but this was a different scenario since Denise seemed busy at the office.

The Isaac Cox House still needs help in dire economic times.

Isaac Cox House Coordinator Denise McCord

With the economy slowly creeping back to normalcy, the amount of money that is donated to the Isaac Cox Foundation at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Md.,  is getter bigger and better for students. During the recession woes in 2009, the Isaac Cox Foundation received less than $1 million for scholarships and programs. This year, the foundation raised about $1.2 million.


They are in charge of the college’s 50 year anniversary kickoff gala on Oct. 15.

The economy still affects the way the foundation raises money and helps the college, especially since alumni have less money to donate.
I met up with one of the employees at the Isaac Cox House, where the foundation is run.

“We’re going after more targets, needs and reducing our mailings,” says Denise McCord, who has worked as the foundation's coordinator for 1.5 years.

The Isaac Cox Foundation was created in 1967 to help students and the campus transform into something better. Since 1961, AACC has served more than 53,000 students annually.


McCord says the donations come from many places including:

• Anne Arundel Medical Center
• Whole Foods Market
• Towson University Foundation

The white two-story house where eight people work today once belonged to Isaac Cox, a farmhand manager, who owned and worked on the land in the 1800s.