Beneficiaries: Boys & Girls Club, House of Faith
Fund: Cecil Williams Legacy Fund

The Need:
One of the Foundation’s first gifts was a fund created in 2002 in honor of San Angelo native Cecil Williams. The Reverend Williams grew up in San Angelo in the Blackshear community and later became the Senior Pastor of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco. Donors sought to establish a fund to perpetuate Rev. Williams’ legacy of helping those less fortunate and misaligned. The Furth and Jackson families from California created the fund and a love offering collected in 2002 was added. The Cecil Williams Legacy Fund is a field of interest fund. It targets organizations that help children who are less fortunate and misaligned and brings hope and empowerment for young people to take control of their lives, affirm who they are and celebrate the diversity of the communities in which they live. Today, additional gifts and market returns have grown the fund assets to more than $35,000.

The Response:
In 2004, this fund awarded its first grants by forming a diverse committee to review and recommend grant recipients. The committee is comprised of Ella Mae Johnson, Nathaniel Hankins, Fredd Adams, and John Fuentes. The Boys & Girls Club and The House of Faith received grants paid out over three years to support their programs of helping children succeed, in spite of their backgrounds. Both organizations have a proven track record for reaching out to kids and helping them to move forward with purpose driven life. The fund also awarded a scholarship to Adrienne Campbell, who was selected by the local NAACP scholarship committee. Finally, the fund awarded a grant to Blackshear Elementary to purchase a mobile listening center library.

The Future:
In future years, organizations can apply for grants from the Cecil Williams Legacy Fund to help continue the vision of helping young people that the Reverend Williams sought to inspire in his home town.