Every spring, we get to make a fun announcement that resonates throughout our region. What is that special proclamation? Well, Gulf Coast Community Foundation just awarded 451 scholarships worth $544,000 to help hundreds of local students pursue their college dreams next year.

Our scholarship recipients demonstrate a significant financial need bolstered by a strong dose of academic excellence and civic service. Gulf Coast staff helps read the applications of each student. Their stories are heartwarming and amazing.

Like the college senior, raised by her grandparents because her dad was absent and her mom struggles with addiction. Despite her family difficulties and financial burdens, she has become a student leader who excels academically while working to pay her way through school. Her big heart, genuine optimism, and unflagging enthusiasm leapt off the page (or screen, rather, as our scholarship program lives completely online now).

Here’s another: a high school senior who is literally on his own. Incarceration and illness in his family left him without a permanent guardian, but they haven’t extinguished his life ambitions or love for learning. He’s eager to become a physicist, and while the universe is the limit for his curiosity, his goal is making this world a better place.

The other inspiring story behind the stories of our scholarship recipients is that of our donors, who directly invest in improving students’ lives through their scholarship funds. This year, we awarded scholarships from 57 different charitable funds. Nearly two-thirds of them came from funds created by donors. They support higher education in fields ranging from business and health care to performing arts and nonprofit management.

The personal stories of these philanthropists can be just as compelling as those of the students they help. That’s what makes another highlight of this season arranging for donors to share a meal with the recipients of their generosity. It’s an opportunity to actually connect people who have mutually added meaning to one another’s lives.

A wise man once said, “We all recognize that the world is changing rapidly, and ‘doing good’ needs to have its amateur and professional sides to compete for the time, energy, and funding of our population.”

That was the late Steve Wiberding, explaining with typical eloquence and insight why a scholarship fund for nonprofit management studies was valuable, especially in a community known for its abundance of volunteers. Steve helped set up such a fund nearly a decade ago in honor of his first mother-in-law’s 90th birthday.

Our community suffered a profound loss with Steve’s passing last weekend. He was surrounded with the love of family and friends, and his wife Teri A. Hansen—my predecessor and mentor at Gulf Coast—was by his side. But we will hurt for a good long time without his dignified presence and twinkling smile.

Steve was a longtime donor, former Board member, and forever friend of Gulf Coast. He also was a gentleman and a genius; a decorated veteran and a community servant. Steve deeply loved Teri, his family, and this community, and he showed it through steady dedication and unselfish generosity.

The students who just received our scholarship awards are this community’s future. Evidenced by their essays and recommendations, many are eager to lead. But to lead forward is only the beginning; nothing is really accomplished unless you are able to leave behind.

Stephen Van Cortlandt Wilberding leaves behind a community that is better because of him, a philanthropic legacy to continue improving it, and a shining example of service to which we all should aspire. In an age of instant gratification and individualism, Steve was patient, gracious, and inclusive. His is a wonderful reflection of what future leaders might aspire to become. 

Mark Pritchett is president and CEO of Gulf Coast Community Foundation.