64 | VIPPensacola.com
UWF Receives $39,593 Donation
From Frank Brown Songwriters
Festival For Larry Butler Award
The University of West Florida celebrated
a $39,593 donation to the UWF Department
of Music in support of the Larry Butler
Memorial Music Award on April 2, at
the Museum Plaza in Historic Pensacola.
The new funds are a result of a fundraising
concert featuring Dean Dillon in downtown
Pensacola and the Frank Brown International
Songwriters Festival, which were both held in
November.
The donation will provide opportunities for
students to work with world-class artists and
travel to competitions, conventions and elite
music festivals. The Larry Butler Memorial
Music Award was created in 2015 by Peggy
Butler in memory of her husband, a Grammy
Award-winning songwriter and producer and
Pensacola native.
“This gift will positively impact our
students, faculty and community on a
daily basis,” said Dr. Sheila Dunn, chair
of the Department of Music. “The Larry
Butler Music Memorial Award is truly
transformational for our music students and
for our department.”
Larry Butler worked with renowned
recording artists Johnny Cash and Kenny
Rogers, among others, during his career
in Nashville, and continued to show
appreciation for his hometown through his
generosity, including holding a benefi t concert
to raise money for the rebuilding effort
following Hurricane Ivan.
The Frank Brown International Songwriters
Festival hosts Grammy Award-winning
songwriters and rising stars, who perform
original songs in multiple locations in the
Florida and Alabama Gulf Coast.
For more information about the Larry Butler
Memorial Music Award, please contact the
UWF Foundation, Inc. at 850.474.3118.
UWF Alumnus Honors Father By
Providing Scholarships To UWF
Students
The University of West Florida received a
$50,000 gift from UWF alumnus Jeff Weeks
to establish the William J. “Bill” Weeks
Endowment Scholarship in honor of his
father.
The scholarship is reserved for fi rst-
generation college students majoring in fi ne
arts, performing arts or communications
within the College of Arts, Social Sciences
and Humanities. To qualify, students must
be from Escambia, Santa Rosa, Oklaloosa or
Walton counties in Florida and Escambia or
Baldwin counties in Alabama.
Weeks is a senior vice president-investment
offi cer with Wells Fargo Advisors in
Pensacola and also the host and producer of
“Conversations with Jeff Weeks” on WSRE.
He majored in communications at UWF, and
his father, Bill, had a passion for art.
“The skills learned in communications
and art courses translate into every industry
today,” Weeks said. “The arts and creativity
are so important to our society as a whole and
I think we need more talented individuals
with these skills entering the workforce. I
hope this scholarship inspires growth and
change in students who may not have known
the potential they had before. Once you
break that seal on your potential, the sky’s the
limit.”
When Weeks was in kindergarten, his
mother suffered a brain aneurysm that forced
his father to step up and bear the brunt of the
work in the household. He took care of his
family, while maintaining a successful career.
“He was acting almost like a single father
at a time when that was uncommon,” Weeks
said. Although Weeks’ father did not attend
college, he encouraged his children to pursue
higher education.
“The college is honored and deeply grateful
to have received this wonderful endowment
from Mr. Weeks and his family,” said Dr.
Steve Brown, dean of the College of Arts,
Social Sciences and Humanities.
Wells Fargo Advisors is a trade name used by
Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Member
SIPC.
Veterans Memorial Park
Foundation Announces Memorial
Day Essay Contest
The Veterans Memorial Park Foundation
of Pensacola is pleased to announce an essay
contest for 3rd - 12th grade students in
Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties. Students
in public, private, or home- school settings
are eligible to participate. Essays are due by
May 15th and winning essayists in each grade
will be awarded a $50 gift card. Winners will
be recognized at the May 26th Memorial Day
Ceremony at the Veterans Memorial Park in
Pensacola.
“During Memorial Day ceremonies, we
often hear speeches about those who have
‘made the ultimate sacrifi ce’ but often we
don’t really think about what that means,”
said retired Navy Captain Lee Hansen,
the Foundation’s 2019 Essay Contest
Coordinator. “This year, we’re asking local
students to write about what that phrase
means – and why we should honor those who
have made that sacrifi ce for the freedoms we
enjoy.”
The annual essay contest is just one way
the Foundation completes its mission of
educating the community about the sacrifi ce
of those memorialized in the park. The all-
volunteer Foundation also hosts ceremonies
for both Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
They provide presentations and assistance
to military groups who visit the Park during
reunions and other gatherings. They raise
funds to pay for the upkeep of the Park and all
the monuments contained in the park.
To fi nd out how you can help support the
Veterans Memorial Park Foundation – or how
you can participate in the Memorial Day Essay
Contest – visit veteransmemorialparkpensacola.
com or contact Ms. Lee Hansen at 850-434-
6119.
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