'International experience': Alabama foundation invests in life-changing projects

This story is part of a partnership between the Montgomery Advertiser and the Living Democracy program at Auburn University. Now in its 13th year, the program disperses students across rural Alabama to spend 10 weeks learning more about the inner workings of the community and writing about what they observe.

CHATOM ? Eli Postma, a Washington County High School rising junior, left his home in the forests of Chatom, Alabama, to fly to one of the greenest places on Earth, Scotland, for a three-week adventure.

Postma will be studying at Gordonstoun International Summer School (GISS) near Eglin, on the northeast coast of Scotland. He will be participating in an immersive educational program through July 29. He joins a growing list of teens from Washington County provided with an opportunity to interact with over 300 people from across the globe at the Scottish school.

This adventure for Postma and other Chatom teens is funded through the Henson and Kirkland Charitable Foundation, a local philanthropic organization. As part of their efforts to encourage cultural and educational growth, the Foundation created a scholarship to provide the opportunity.

“GISS attracts students from more than 40 countries, so it is a truly international experience, with young people leaving the program with a deeper understanding of other people’s cultures and values and international friends for life,” Jo Shirriffs, director of GISS & Enterprises at Gordonstoun School, said.

Dede Ferguson was selected for the scholarship to Scotland in 2022. “Gordonstoun led me to make new friends and learn about different cultures," she said. "Due to this experience, I have learned that it is okay to go outside my comfort zone and expand my horizons.”

More: From sushi to trucks, new Chatom events guru works to bring people together

Closer to home, the Henson and Kirkland Charitable Foundation aims to help wherever assistance is needed through a variety of other scholarships and grants.

“The goal was to do all we could to help, predominantly within Washington County,” Milton Schell, trustee of the foundation, said. The foundation has been promoting education, literacy and health in rural Washington County for over 10 years and hopes to still be reaching people in a hundred more years, Schell said, adding “if it will help you, that’s all we are interested in.”

The foundation started in 2012 with just three people, Robert Edward Henson, who served as a trustee, Schell, and Maria Henson with the goal of supporting worthy causes in Washington County.

Initial funding came from an estate Henson had inherited from the Kirkland family. After timber on the land was sold, the profit was used to establish the foundation. Prior to his death, Robert Henson dedicated any future assets from the estate for future projects.

The board now consists of five members, one trustee and four district committee members, who meet periodically to discuss where donations will be most beneficial. In 2023, they distributed a total of 21 awards to different organizations/projects/scholarships. These donations were awarded to causes such as local schools, the Washington County 4-H, and the yearly scholarship to send a local student to Gordonstoun.

One project The Henson Kirkland Charitable Foundation invested in recently is placing security cameras within all schools in Washington County.

More: In Alabama, 'third spaces' bring small towns together through forging relationships

“The cameras installed at CES have been the biggest life and safety investment that I have seen in my 25-year career," said Ben Jones, principal at Chatom Elementary School. "I have complete access to my campus via laptop, iPad, or iPhone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The camera system has already proven to be an invaluable resource to our campus on more than one occasion.”

The foundation also supports pilot project grants intended to offer funds and support to get new projects off the ground. “If we can plant a seed, sometimes other grants can be used to help fund the program,” Schell said.

Central Alabama Community Foundation President Burton Crenshaw said nonprofits are vital resources to those in need. "Collaboration for funding is so important when it comes to being able to support nonprofits in the community," she said. "When funders join forces, we can make a larger impact to meet these needs.”

Hayley Platt, a Living Democracy student at Auburn University, is living and learning this summer in her hometown of Chatom, Alabama, as a Jean O'Connor Snyder Intern with the David Mathews Center for Civic Life. The nonprofit program, coordinated by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts, prepares undergraduate college students for civic life through living-learning experiences in the summer.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Washington County foundation invests in life-changing projects