Georgia Magazine - January 2022 - 21

Kinesiology students at the Mary Frances Early College of Education
at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens also are eligible. Both Jimmy
DeLoach and his younger daughter, Anna, who is studying to be a physician
assistant at Mercer University in Atlanta, are UGA alumni.
Some scholarships help send students on medical mission trips, where
DeLoach says they are transformed by applying book learning to 18-hour
workdays in challenging conditions.
" They experience the joy of knowing the impact they had on these
people's lives and come back with a different mindset about what it takes to
be successful, " he says.
One such recipient is Reed Ely, a cardiac lab nurse at St. Joseph's/
Candler Hospital. In 2019, Ely, then a GSU student, received a scholarship
to serve on a Nurses for the Nations mission trip in conjunction with
Compassion Christian Church of Savannah. He and a team of medical
students spent a week working at a clinic in rural Ecuador.
" It had always been on my heart that I wanted to combine nursing with
the mission field, " Ely says. " We were able to serve patients both spiritually
and physically and make a tangible difference in their lives. "
For Ely's team, that meant providing basic health education and treating
illnesses in the main clinic, leading faith-sharing sessions with patients
and traveling to outlying areas to treat patients who were unable to make
the trip to the clinic.
" It gives you an appreciation for what we have and a new respect for
the job. You can't speak their language and don't know their culture, but
they come to you and trust you and need you, " Ely says. " It also shows me
that God is much bigger than you ever thought and more personal than you
ever believed. "
The athletic approach
Abbie DeLoach was a varsity athlete in baseball, volleyball and track
at Savannah Christian Preparatory School and an intramural champion
at GSU. She shared a love for sports with her father. Jimmy DeLoach was
a walk-on for the 1977 UGA football team and went
on to coach at UGA, Norcross and Gainesville high
schools, and Georgia Southern under the legendary
Erk Russell.
He said that while most student-athletes have
the self-discipline to be their best on the field and in
the classroom, they often are challenged by their life
circumstances.
" My first year [coaching] at Georgia Southern, I
saw how hard it was to make a team out of kids with
different backgrounds-some with no resources, "
he says. " The higher education experience really
opened their eyes to what is possible. You could
really change a kid's endgame in four years and
change their lives forever. "
The foundation funds scholarships for male
and female athletes at GSU and Savannah State
University.
The spiritual and service
approach
Abbie DeLoach and her father had planned on a
mission trip abroad the year of her accident, and he
later traveled to India in her memory. Struck by the
number of women he saw who were struggling with
poverty, he and the ADF worked with Compassion
Christian Church and Vikas Mission in Colorado to
establish Abbie's Home, a facility in Damoh, India,
that offers educational and vocational training and
assistance to vulnerable women.
Locally, the ADF partners with SavannahChatham
County Public Schools to help fund
student-led service projects, meet specific school
needs and support community
fundraisers.
" We are asking people to represent
Even these doughnuts refl ect the race theme.
The Abbie DeLoach Foundation sponsors the True Blue 5K and Abbie's Adventure Race at
Georgia Southern University on homecoming weekend each year.
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Georgia Magazine - January 2022

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