Pictured above is Benjamin Wright addressing the attendees of the Foundation's Annual Dinner and Benjamin Wright with his sisters Vanessa Robinson, Diane Drummond, and Martha Young at the Foundation's Annual Dinner.

Click here to watch a video highlighting the award.

Benjamin Wright received the 2009 Mary L. Thomas Award for Civic Leadership and Community Change on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 at The Spartanburg County Foundation’s Annual Meeting.

Benjamin Wright, is a beloved mentor and friend to many youth and children within the Spartanburg community.  He spends countless hours in local schools eating lunch with students, tutoring, and giving young people the extra attention they need to excel. 

As a staff member for the Spartanburg Terrace Tenants Association, Ben works tirelessly in the Crescent Hills community helping entire families succeed. He has rallied for federal and private dollars to begin and sustain successful programs for youth and their families within Crescent Hills and throughout the Spartanburg Community.  One notable among these is the Raising a Reader Program, which fosters healthy brain development, parent-child bonding and early literacy skills.  Ben introduced the program to the Spartanburg Terrace Tenants Association and is now partnering with local schools to implement Raising a Reader throughout Spartanburg; all in an effort to give children the best possible start from day one.

Ben aims for change and he empowers those around him to do the same.  He reaches across all sectors as he works with educators, public officials and community leaders to develop solutions to address Spartanburg’s most pressing problems. Ben sits on the Improvement Councils of several area schools and serves on multiple Boards and Advisory Groups. He has been an active participant in the Spartanburg Community Indicators Project, is a member of the ReGenesis Board and recently joined the Chapman Cultural Center’s Community Advisory Council. 

In addition to the award presentation, attendees of the meeting learned more about how the Power of Generosity has been at work through The Spartanburg County Foundation throughout the last 65 years.  Since the Foundation’s inception in 1943, more than $85 million in grants have been awarded by the Foundation and its fundholders. 

The program also featured highlights from 2008, a truly extraordinary year for The Spartanburg County Foundation.  Despite the spiraling economy, Foundation fundholders gave 1,500 grants totaling $6.3 million to support many causes.  In addition, The Foundation received over 2,350 contributions totaling over $9 million dollars, and 35 new charitable funds were established bringing the total funds under management to over 800.

The dinner concluded with a presentation honoring retiring trustee Sally Foster, who has just completed her 7-year term as Trustee of the Foundation. 

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