SAVANNAH — The Charles L. Mix Memorial Fund Inc. was selected as the Technical College Foundation Association (TCFA) statewide Benefactor of the Year for 2016 recently.
The Charles L. Mix Memorial Fund was nominated for this honor by the South Georgia Technical College (SGTC) Foundation and was recognized for this honor at the annual Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) Leadership Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Savannah in front of over 200 individuals from around the state.
“The Charles L. Mix Memorial Fund has been a consistent donor to the South Georgia Technical College Foundation since 2000. They have donated funds for state-of-the-art equipment for new and existing programs, scholarships, textbooks, and building renovations,” said SGTC President John Watford, Ed.D. “The support of the Charles L. Mix Fund and its trustees has had a tremendous impact on the students, faculty and staff, and the communities we serve. We are very appreciative of their support and we are pleased that they were selected as the statewide Benefactor of the Year.”
Gatewood Dudley, MD, one of the trustees of the Charles L. Mix Fund, accepted the award on behalf of the other trustees which include Russell Thomas Jr., Charles R. Crisp, James C. Gatewood, Wade Halstead, George Hooks, and Rick Whaley.
“I am honored on behalf of the Charles L. Mix Fund trustees to accept this award,” said Dudley. “We are very pleased to be able to support South Georgia Technical College and its students. We do plan to continue our support in the future and we are humbled by this recognition.”
Each of the 24 Technical College Foundations in Georgia were given the opportunity to submit a recommendation for the Benefactor of the Year award. The TCFA Benefactor of the Year award is a way to recognize outstanding contributions that individuals and companies make to their local technical college foundations. The recipients of this award embody the ideals of philanthropy and leadership in the service to Georgia’s technical colleges. Benefactors are important advocates who help to build strong support for the college in its region and throughout the state and nation.
“The South Georgia Technical College Foundation has enjoyed tremendous growth over the past 16 years thanks to the support of the Charles L. Mix Fund and our other benefactors,” said SGTC Foundation Chairman Randy Jones. “We are very appreciative of the support that we receive from the Mix Fund and from others in this community. This support is helping to make good things happen for the students, faculty and staff, and the communities served by South Georgia Technical College.”
The TCSG Leadership Conference is held once a year and brings together the members of the State Board of the Technical College System of Georgia, the Technical College Directors’ Association and the Technical College Foundation Association, as well as the Technical College System of Georgia Commissioner, her senior staff, the technical college presidents and their institutional advancement staffs.
SGTC President Emeritus Sparky and Allene Reeves were the recipients of this state-wide award in 2015. The only other local recipients were Roy Lee and Susan Smith who were recognized in 2007. Debbie Smith and Jimmy Whaley accepted the honor on behalf of their family.