News

Foundation presents Sauer, Dot Marlow awards

Dottie Marlow Kinlaw, the Rev. Julie Belman, Dot Marlow’s granddaughter; and Valorie Marlow Songer (right) pose with Dorothy Dellinger “Dot” Marlow Philanthropic Catalyst Award recipient Sherri Metzger. [PAULA ROBERTS PHOTOGRAPHY]

By Bill Moss, Published: November 14, 2023

At Hendersonville High School, Dan Barber played on two state championship teams — one in cross country and one in track. Yet a non-sports award he received at commencement shaped his life.

“I received a Rotary Cup that was emblematic of someone that put service above self,” he said. “I felt very humbled then as I do now and I felt, ‘Well, if this is my legacy, I'm gonna fulfill this legacy after being honored this way.’”

Barber and his wife, Janet, were honored on Wednesday as this year’s recipients of the Richard & Vina Sauer Award for philanthropic and volunteer service to the community, one of the foundation’s two most prestigious awards. Sherri Metzger, a Realtor who has spent her retirement years serving in a variety of volunteer nonprofit leadership and fundraising roles, was named the 2023 winner of the Dorothy Dellinger “Dot” Marlow Philanthropic Catalyst Award during the foundation's annual luncheon at Jeter Mountain Farm.

The Barber family came to Hendersonville in 1948.

“My father was a coach, a teacher, a principal and a superintendent of schools,” he said. “My mother was a teacher. They had three small children all under six years old, but no real financial future. With money borrowed from his mother and brother, my dad purchased a Western Auto franchise. This was a turning point in their lives — to change careers at 38 years old with no business experience and move to a town where they knew no one.”

Dan and Nancy have supported Fletcher and Flat Rock parks and the North Carolina Arboretum, given scholarships to Blue Ridge Community College, funded the Barber Christian Life Center at First United Methodist Church in honor of his parents, established the Veterans Memorial Garden at the Elizabeth House and given a grant of $500 to every Boy Scout who achieves the rank of Eagle at Barber’s old unit, Troop 601.

“Nancy’s passion was to serve others,” Barber said. “She chose to volunteer in the school system for 14 years. We taught fifth grade Sunday school at First United Methodist Church for 20 years and served as counselors for the Methodist Youth Fellowship for five years. … We feel very blessed to receive this award today. There are so many caring people in our community. Service to others is the rent we pay for the space we occupy on this earth.”

Nancy Barber recalled a missionary’s story about a young boy, born blind, whose prayer every night was “Jesus, give me eyes.”

“So my prayer for myself and everybody here is for Jesus to give us eyes to see the need of others, whether it’s Henderson County or anywhere in the world, so that when we leave this earth, God will say, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant.’”

In presenting the Dot Marlow winner, the Rev. Julie Belman said her grandmother would be proud to have Catalyst award named in her honor.

“She was committed to making Henderson County a better place to live,” Belman said. “She believed she was put on this earth to serve others, to be generous and make a positive impact on every single person. And, yes, she did it with style and glamour.”

Metzger has been active in retirement in several community organizations, including Interfaith Assistance Ministry, where she led fundraising efforts for the new IAM headquarters, and the Community Foundation.

“I believe that if we want to be involved in our community, we need to find things that we truly care about personally,” she said. “I feel that the Community Foundation has been one of the highlights of my life. … I was so surprised to learn that I was going to be receiving this Dot Marlow award. I knew Dot Marlow and she had an impact on my early career here and I remember her being involved in so many important things.”

Assets grow from $109,000 to $132 million

Earlier in the program, Community Foundation Chair Stan Duncan and Vice Chair Ruth Birge reported on the breakdown of charitable donations and fiscal heft of the foundation.

The foundation’s assets have grown to $131.5 million, Birge said, from its starting point of $109,000 40 years ago. Grants in the Foundation’s 2022-23 fiscal year totaled $5.67 million while new contributions came in at $5.9 million. Over its 41-year history, the foundation has given $85 million to individuals and nonprofits. Pathways that donors and volunteers in their charitable decision-making were:

• Awarded grants from unrestricted community pools, $548,864
• Scholarship awards made available, $503,525
• Donor advisor grants, $1,645,216
• Donor funds designated to organizations and programs, $2,188,232
• Donors Field of Interest funding, $272,013
• Nonprofit organization funds distributed to their own programs, $268,508
• Annuity payments with planned remainder for charity, $198,600

Duncan described how new donors come to the foundation with the seed of an idea for making a difference.

“They start with a smallest spark that touches a personalized sense of responsibility,” he said. “It becomes the question of, ‘What can I do? How can I help? How can I give back?’”

Thanks to the intervention of the foundation from 2017 through this year, the Opportunity House is on the brink of new life as a clearinghouse to serve homeless people and those in crisis.

“By late 2018, it became obvious the Opportunity House we once knew had ceased to operate as a legitimate nonprofit,” he said. Thanks to the pending resolution of the five-year-old lawsuit and the final dissolution of the old nonprofit, “We believe assets once held by the Opportunity House will become working capital to serve a much needed charitable mission in our community.”

Cornerstone of a cathedral

Keynote speaker Scott Hamilton, who now leads the Golden LEAF Foundation agency, cut his teeth in economic development in Hendersonville as president of the Partnership for Economic Development before leading Advantage West and the Appalachian Regional Commission.

“My wife and I raised two daughters here,” he said. “While I worked in economic development, my wife taught at Henderson County public schools. My daughter is currently a Henderson County public school teacher. Both of our daughters and their families, including our two grandsons and our granddaughter, call Henderson County home. We make it back as often as we can and we also look forward to returning here full time when the time comes for me to retire.”

The long-term good of charitable giving, he said, depends on donors’ ability to envision a goal they may not live to see.

“Each of you are here today because you care deeply about our community and are committed to leaving it better for those who will follow,” he said. “At Golden LEAF I talk a lot about cathedral building — the idea that great cathedrals of the world took hundreds of years to build. The people that laid the cornerstone never saw it finished. But someone had to stick to it. Everyone chipped in order for these beautiful buildings to exist today.”