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Giving with Gratitude reception honors donors; Connects students with College’s contributors

By Victoria Brown 

Southwest’s Institutional Advancement and Resource Development Specialist Cassandra Carthon and Alumni of the Year Calvin Sanford at The Southwest Foundation’s Giving with Gratitude donor reception. 
Southwest’s Institutional Advancement and Resource
Development Specialist Cassandra Carthon and Alumni of the
Year Calvin Sanford at The Southwest Foundation’s Giving with
Gratitude donor reception. 

The Southwest Foundation hosted its annual Giving with Gratitude appreciation reception to thank donors for their contributions to the College through scholarships and institutional funding. 

The reception, held on Dec. 7 at the Bert Bornblum Library Art Gallery, highlighted the importance of the Foundation and the impact it has on both Southwest students and the local community. Students were able to personally thank the donors present for their support and commitment to the College. 

Southwest President Dr. Tracy D. Hall gave remarks at the event, thanking the donors and sharing that the Foundation provided more than $7.9 million in funding through grants, gifts and donations for nearly 1,000 students in 2023. 

“These donations benefit the students by helping them with their academics, but they also help them in their lives’ journeys,” Hall said. “The impact of these donations on a thousand students is far reaching – it multiplies when you think about their families, and how the impact is spread throughout the entire community.”

“Education not only helps the person, it’s also designed to be paid forward and to help the community,” Hall said. “Many of the students you support are able to go on and do great things in their lives and make changes in their communities through your donations.”

Calvin Sanford, a former Southwest student and the 2023 Alumni of the Year award recipient, spoke at the event and shared the positive impact Southwest had on his life. Thanks to generous donations to The Southwest Foundation, Sanford was able to attend school tuition-free.

“Project M.O.S.T. was an organization that really gave me a lot of resources and what I needed,” Sanford said. “I was getting grants and did not have to pay for school. Whatever I got, it covered everything.”

Sanford shared that he was raising a child on his own while attending school, and that grants and scholarships provided by The Southwest Foundation allowed him to focus on schoolwork without stressing about paying for classes and books. Sanford also noted the genuineness of the professors and offered a personal note of thanks to Southwest for meeting his spouse, who was his former study partner during his time at the College. 

“My success really started here. I got hope from here. I got motivation from here, and I found out that the teachers really care,” Sanford said. “In all of the classes I had, all of the teachers gave me that push to be successful, and I feel like I wouldn’t have made it without that push.”

After attending Southwest, Sanford went on to obtain a bachelor’s in marketing from Christian Brothers University, and is now the owner of his own marketing company, Marketality. 

Pictured at the donor reception are Southwest’s Chief Government and External Relations Officer Chuck Thomas and The Southwest Foundation Board President Ed Lyons.
Pictured at the donor reception are Southwest’s Chief
Government and External Relations Officer Chuck Thomas and
The Southwest Foundation Board President Ed Lyons.

This year’s event also featured remarks from keynote speakers Braylin Laster, the new associate vice president of Institutional Advancement, Suzanne Gibson, the director of Grants Development & Management, and Darrell Thomas, The Southwest Foundation Board president.

Several donors and members of The Southwest Foundation board attended the donor reception. Ed Lyons, a Foundation board member and the vice president of Safety & Worthiness at FedEx, shared why giving back to Southwest students is important to him.

“When I joined the board, I was able to see what the college is able to do for the young adults of Memphis. I think the gentleman who spoke today...his story is emblematic of all of the many stories that I’ve heard,” Lyons said. “I became a donor because I think it’s giving back to the community and it’s helping these kids have hope and have the tools to make it out in the business world.” 

More information about The Southwest Foundation can be found here.