At the 2018 National Guard Association Conference in New Orleans this past weekend, GVSMF Executive Director & President Bradley J. Crawford was able to present the GVMF 2018 Contribution to Brig Gen (Ret) Allyson Solomon, Youth Challenge Foundation Executive Director.

Joining us for the presentation were MG Durr Boyles, MS National Guard Adjutant General, Gen Joseph Lengyel, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, and Brig Gen (Ret) Roy Robinson, National Guard Association of the United States President.

The total contribution was $17,500 with $10,000 going to the Youth Challenge Foundation and the remaining $7,500 coming back to the Mississippi Youth Challenge Program at Camp Shelby.

From MSU:

Terry Dale Cruse, C.D. Smith, Dr. Judy Bonner and Brad Crawford celebrate the dedication of the G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Advising and Career Services Center on MSU-Meridian’s College Park Campus.

MERIDIAN, Miss.—A new advisement and career services center at the Mississippi State University-Meridian campus now honors the late U.S. Rep. G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery, a Meridian native and MSU alumnus.

Officials dedicated the G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Advisement and Career Services Center during a formal ceremony Friday [May 19] at MSU-Meridian’s College Park Campus. The facility, which opened in 2016 in the space that formerly housed the Barnes and Noble bookstore, provides students a centralized location to guide them through college at MSU-Meridian and into a career.

“This gift significantly impacts the success of our Partnership Pathways initiative with local community colleges while also promoting retention of current students,” MSU-Meridian Administrative Director and Head of Campus Terry Dale Cruse said. “The Sonny Montgomery Advisement and Career Services Center serves as a hub for recruiting students to the Meridian Campus, encouraging them to reach graduation, and connecting them to meaningful jobs after degree completion.”

The center is supported by MSU and the G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Foundation, which was established more than a decade ago to support and encourage Montgomery’s greatest interests.

“The Montgomery Foundation is excited to be able to partner with MSU-Meridian,” Montgomery Foundation Board President and Executive Director Brad Crawford said. “Congressman Montgomery believed education is important, and this center represents his commitment to education, MSU and MSU-Meridian. This partnership is a natural fit.”

The center serves as a “front door” for the College Park campus. Academic advisers can assist students interested in MSU-Meridian’s Partnership Pathways agreements with local community colleges, designed to help students complete a four-year degree program after transitioning from a two-year college. Career Center personnel can help students find employment and internship opportunities, prepare resumes and improve job interview skills.

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DTOC Member Brittney Kennedy and President Dan Derrington accept a $1000 gift given annually by the G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Foundation to the Downtown Optimist Club of Meridian.

The Downtown Optimist Club supports youth programs in the Meridian and Lauderdale communities and has done so since 1941. Sonny Montgomery was a long time member of this local organization and his influence is still felt and remembered by club members.

The DTOC motto is “Friend of Youth”.

Langford Knight, Meridian Air Force Association President, and Larry Pace, past president, look over a $1000 gift received  annually from the G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Foundation to the local AFA Chapter.

The money helps support chapter activities and youth participation in AFA programs. 

Brad Crawford, G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Foundation Board President, presents a check to Mark Tullos, Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience Director, at the construction site of the new MAEE center in downtown Meridian.

The check represents the second annual installment to a $50,000 gift that will go toward the operation of the new center.

U.S. Air National Guard photo by Capt. Sabrina Dalton

Chief Master Sgt. Ronald Arthur, 186th ARW Command Chief, and Lt. Col. Dewayne Hamrick, President of the Air National Guard Support Fund, accept a $1,000 gift from The G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Foundation at Key Field Air National Guard Base, Meridian, Miss., April 13, 2017.

The gift is given annually by the GVSM Foundation to help support events and other needs of Key Field personnel.