2021 Community Impact Report

BGCSWVA AWARDS THE FIRST JIM BARKER EDUCATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP

Mike and Danielle Wise, founders of the Jim Barker Scholarship Fund, wanted to provide Boys & Girls Club youth with hope and a plan for their future after high school. Through their generous donation, Mike and Danielle set an example for our community, establishing an endowed scholarship fund that would pay for post-high school educational needs for Boys & Girls Clubs of SWVA alumni in perpetuity. The Jim Barker Scholarship Fund is named after Jim Barker, CFO at Delta Dental of VA, BGCSWVA Board member, and Boys & Girls Club alumnus from the Bristol, VA Club. After losing his father at an early age, Jim credits Boys & Girls Club with “protecting his mother’s investment” in him while she was working to provide for their family. Boys & Girls Club youth can use these funds for 4-year college tuition, 2-year associates degrees, skills-based certificates, and other career-related educational needs after high school. The JBESF Committee has a goal of raising $1,000,000 in 10 years, which would provide over $39,000 in scholarship awards annually in perpetuity. In its first year, over $120,000 was raised.

In May of 2021, the first Jim Barker Educational Scholarship was awarded to Jack Graves, an Eastern Montgomery High School ’21 graduate who is finishing his freshman year at William & Mary.

To learn more about the Jim Barker Scholarship Fund, please visit www.bgcswva.org/barker .

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