Gardner-Webb Receives Grant from Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation Inc.

$230,000 Will Provide Scholarships to Undergraduates

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.—Gardner-Webb University constantly strives to make the college experience affordable. For over three decades, the Lettie Pate Whitehead (LPW) Foundation Inc. has been a vital supporter of this effort. Recently, the Foundation’s trustees proposed a grant of $230,000 to Gardner-Webb for the 2021-2022 academic year. This gift, along with other University aid, will provide scholarships in financial aid packages to female undergraduates.

The LPW Foundation was chartered in 1946 for the “aid and benefit of poor and deserving Christian girls and women” from these nine states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The Foundation devotes most of its resources to the scholarship program, which provides scholarship grants for deserving female students with financial need at nearly 200 colleges, universities and independent schools.

From 2017 to 2021, LPW Scholarships have supported more than 250 young women at Gardner-Webb to ignite their future with $845,000 in financial aid.

“We deeply appreciate the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation’s dedication to higher education and faithful support of Gardner-Webb,” noted Aaron Hinton, associate vice president for Advancement. “With this new grant, Lettie Pate Whitehead has given young Christian women at GWU more than $1 million in scholarship aid over the last five years. They are truly an invaluable partner for the University.”

Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans was a generous philanthropist and accomplished businesswoman. She was the wife of Joseph B. Whitehead, one of the original bottlers of Coca-Cola. At his death, she assumed management of his business affairs, establishing the Whitehead Holding Company and the Whitehead Realty Company and leading the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Atlanta. She also became one of the first female directors of any major U.S. corporation when she was appointed to the board of The Coca-Cola Company in 1934, a position she held for nearly 20 years.

Whitehead felt a keen sense of duty to those in need. Bowed by the grief of losing her first husband and two sons, she devoted herself to faith and philanthropy. A quote she lived by is tucked inside the pages of her personal scrapbook. The inspirational words are attributed to Stephen Grellet, a French-American missionary from the 18^th/19th centuries: “I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

Besides providing scholarships, the Foundation also supports select elderly care facilities in Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. A video with more information on the Whitehead family can be found here.

Located in the North Carolina foothills, Gardner-Webb University is a private, Christian, liberal arts university. Gardner-Webb emphasizes a strong student-centered experience and rigorous academics to prepare students to become effective leaders within the global community. Ignite your future at Gardner-Webb.edu.