Page 69 - South Mississippi Living - December, 2024

GIVING BACK
story by Kelsey Sunderman-Foster
photos courtesy of the Bacot Foundation of South Mississippi
The Bacot Foundation of South Mississippi stands behind its philosophy “Together we are Making a Difference,” and aims to serve the community and meet unmet needs..
“Through our partnership with the hundreds of philanthropic supporters we have, we hope to continue to assist youth, education, and cultural causes across our region the best ways we can,” says Executive Director Todd Trenchard. “It is through
our incredible volunteer base, which is led by our unparalleled board, that we hope
to contribute in making our entire region a better place to live.”
According to Trenchard, the organization has been blessed to play a part in bringing the entire community together under a common cause: to put youth and education first. “We believe the future holds great promise because of the generosity of
the leaders that our local community is helping us to reach and develop today,” said Trenchard.
The Foundation achieves its goal of enhancing lives in our Gulf Coast Region with a focus on youth, education, the arts, and other worthy causes through fundraising
efforts such as Birdies for Bacot, 50 Women Gulf Coast, the Butch Oustalet Foundation fund, and the Coast-wide hit, Renaissance the Runway. Now in its ninth year and held at the IP Casino Resort Spa, this year’s Taylor Swift themed fashion show featured 70 community leaders who modeled outfits from 20 local shops and boutiques. In addition, Taylor Swift tickets were raffled off enabling this year’s event to raise over $200,000.
“It was one of the foundation’s largest
and most complex endeavors ever and we could never have accomplished what we did without the support of our local community and the best group of volunteers anywhere on the Coast,” said Trenchard. “Together they, along with the support of IP Casino Resort Spa, The Beau Rivage, The Butch Oustalet Foundation Fund, and South Mississippi Living, pulled off what was once again the event of the season. Hats off to our staff who worked tirelessly on this fundraiser and to all those who donated their time and services and helped us to raise over $200,000 for local causes across our region.”
Bacot Foundation of South Mississippi 228.217.5791 www.bacotfoundation.org
SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living | www.smliving.net
December 2024 | 69