Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle Establishes Fund in Memory of Mary J. Stanley

The Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle will soon benefit from a new agency fund at the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation, honoring a beloved Shepherdstown resident. The Mary J. Stanley Fund to Support the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle will honor the late community member who passed away in 2020. Mary’s spirit and love for her community will live on forever as future generations of young ones involved at the Club benefit from the scholarships this fund will provide.

Mary Stanley was a native of Wichita, Kansas, and retired to Shepherdstown in 1995. She was involved in many organizations and clubs in the community, and was a longtime supporter of the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle. She and the Club’s Chief Executive Officer Stacie Rohn met in 2009 and became fast friends, enjoying nearly ten Thanksgivings meals together, with Mary becoming something of a mother figure to Rohn. “Mary was not about pretense,” said Rohn, “She liked good people with good hearts, and she was one of them.”

When Rohn became the Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern Panhandle Club in 2013, Mary was instrumental in helping support her, often serving as a sounding board. “[Mary] gave insight from a unique perspective,” Rohn said. Mary always wanted to know how the children at the Club were doing and was thinking about what would benefit the kids and build their experiences in the club.

Mary helped to connect Rohn to a much larger audience to tell the story of the Club. She “knew everybody,” and arranged for participants in Shepherdstown’s Speak Story Series to hold workshops at the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle so the staff could learn to help kids tell their own stories. “Anytime we can communicate our work from within and push it out is a good thing,” said Rohn. “We’re more than babysitting. While Club members enjoy new equipment and games, that is not the main reason they attend the Boys & Girls Club. They find their mentor or the person with whom they share their successes or challenges.”

The Mary J. Stanley Fund to Support the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle will support the Club in two ways... READ MORE»

Dennis D. Barron and the West Virginia Civil Air Patrol: A Legacy Ensured

When Denny Barron was laid to rest in August 2019, Civil Air Patrol members from across the state came to pay respects to a legend in the CAP WV Wing. The 68 year old had been involved with the organization for over 50 years, influencing the lives of hundreds of cadets and eventually achieving the rank of Colonel.

Before his death, Col. Barron carefully planned ahead to ensure the continued success and growth of the organization he had dedicated so much of his life to, partnering with the Community Foundation to establish two funds. The Martinsburg Civil Air Patrol Fund and the West Virginia Wing – Civil Air Patrol Cadet Scholarship Fund were established in 2016 and have grown exponentially in the past five years.

Initially, recipients of Col. Barron’s scholarship were to receive up to $2,000 per year. Thanks to generous gifts made in Denny’s memory after his passing and provisions he made in his will, the Foundation’s careful stewardship of this fund has allowed it to grow to where its three recipients received scholarships of $5,000 in 2022.

This year’s recipients of the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Scholarship Fund were Aimee Ballard, Camden Link, and Nathaniel Whetsell. Jefferson High School graduate and WVU student Ballard called CAP one of her “greatest learning experiences,” helping her grow as a leader and eventually achieve the rank of flight commander. READ MORE ABOUT THE RECIPIENTS»