Senior after senior held tightly to college scholarship certificates as the Cumberland Community Foundation would celebrate this historic Thursday in the life of the foundation’s Scholarship Awards Program.
Gail Riddle looked over the more than 70 young faces assembled in the Ralph and Linda Huff Orangery of the Cape Fear Botanical Garden.
“Let’s pause and think about who these scholarship awards came from — people you probably have never met and probably never will meet,” Riddle, the foundation chairwoman, wanted all the education scholarship recipients to know on this day of a record celebration of more than $1 million in scholarships. “Many of them retired teachers, and others of modest means.”
There would be a final honor.
Susan Barnes will not be heading off to college in the fall. She has a cluttered storage unit calling, and Thursday would be Barnes’ finale in serving the foundation as manager of the Scholarship Committee since 2005.
“With mixed feelings, our treasured employee Susan Barnes is retiring May 31,” Riddle would say. “Susan started at CCF in January 2005 in an administrative role, supporting the board and coordinating events. She quickly became the manager of our scholarship program.
“I remember well when I first met Susan. I was serving on the Community Scholarship Committee and Susan was, of course, leading the initial meeting. She was so soft-spoken and confident of our ability to make good decisions for the students and the community in general. She made each one of us feel that we were important not only to the process but to the foundation, and most of all to the students who took the initiative and time to apply. We understood that we also owed the donors of these scholarships the honor of doing our very best in our decision making. Susan, in her own graceful, quiet way helped us feel the responsibility that we were undertaking.
“Susan is a professional through and through, and the kind of employee that everyone dreams of having,” Riddle would say before announcing the Susan Townsend Barnes Scholarship Endowment in honor of Barnes’ “exemplary work” with the foundation from Jan. 24, 2005, to May 31, 2024. “It is our honor to create this lasting memory of your service at Cumberland Community Foundation. Susan, we love you.”
Tears welled in Barnes’ eyes.
You could sense the lump in her throat.
The moment was tender on this million-dollar day in the Cumberland Community Foundation Scholarship Program that has seen education scholarships for Cumberland County students increased from $47,000 in 2005 to the record $1,164,024.36 this year.
“It means the world,” Barnes, 65, later would say of the endowment in her name. “It’s such an honor.”
The Susan Townsend Barnes Scholarship Endowment, according to the foundation, will be available to students who have at least one parent or guardian working at a 501(c)3 public charity in Cumberland County.
‘We will miss Susan’
Susan Townsend Barnes grew up in Raeford, the little Hoke County town that remains close and dear to her heart.
“It was a wonderful place to grow up, and I still know many people there from my childhood,” said Barnes, who was graduated from Hoke County High School in 1977, attended Peace College and was graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1981. “My parents, Mina and Dr. Bob Townsend, were active in the community, and my father was a family doctor there for over 30 years. In fact, I first learned about community foundations when his staff created a scholarship for him at the Hoke County Community Foundation when he retired. It now awards to Hoke County students who want to study medicine.”
Barnes found her way to Fayetteville working with a financial planning business and later at the Parent’s Morning Out preschool at Hay Street United Methodist Church before joining the Cumberland Community Foundation.
“I have loved working at the Cumberland Communication Foundation,” she says. “I am so thankful Mary Holmes hired me. I have learned so much about the community and the many generous people who live here and care about Fayetteville and Cumberland County.”
Holmes is president and chief executive officer for the foundation.
“We will miss Susan,” Holmes says, “and how she has brought the scholarship program along.”
As well, Holmes says, as Barnes’ leadership with the CCF’s Women’s Giving Circle since 2009.
“When the Women’s Giving Circle was first formed, Susan became the staff coordinator,” Riddle says. “She has helped the membership grow to over 130 members and guided the Women’s Giving Circle grant over $800,000 to local charities during the last 15 years.”
Whatever the call at the CCF, Riddle says, staff and board members knew Barnes would be there with a voice of what the foundation could do to best serve this community.
“She has always supported the board and volunteers with professionalism,” Riddle says. “Since becoming a board member, I have depended on Susan to keep me straight on many things as I’ve grown into the various roles undertaken on behalf of the foundation. She has never failed to give me her very best advice, kindness and friendship. Susan has also been a wonderful mentor to newer staff members over the years, setting the tone for accountable stewardship and good humor.”
When the late Robert Short wanted to create a scholarship endowment, Barnes was there.
“Mary gives Susan a lot of credit for helping build the relationship with Mr. Short, who donated $10 million as a scholarship endowment gift,” Riddle says about Holmes. “Over the years, Susan patiently guided hundreds of students through the application process. Thanks to Susan, hundreds of students have received awards and obtained their college degrees. This is life changing, not just for the students, but also for their families.”
Epilogue
This was a poignant and historical Thursday for the CCF, founded in 1980 by the late Dr. Lucile West Hutaff, who envisioned a better life for everyone in her hometown.
“My faith is renewed that our future is in good hands,” Gail Riddle would tell us of the young high school students who will pursue higher education, and so many of them with assistance from the foundation. “There’s so much potential in this room, and I have no doubt you will change the world.”
These young people may never know those from this community who, because of their generous gifts and benevolent ways, will forever be a part of what they become in their tomorrows to come, and Susan Townsend Barnes will be among them.
A splendid day, it was, and bittersweet in saying farewell.
“My husband and I plan to do some traveling, clean out a stuffed storage unit, see our son and his family and enjoy time together,” Susan Barnes says. “I look forward to doing some volunteer work, maybe with some organizations that I have learned about through my work at CCF.”
But …
“That storage room,” Susan Barnes will have us know, “is top priority.”
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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