For the last two years, Grand Gentlemen has handed out a college scholarship to various Oklahoma City High School seniors. It’s called the Man of the Year scholarship. While many people formerly recognized the Grant Gents as a group of debonair, well-dressed, and cheerful men of color, they’ve defined themselves as more.
The Grand Gents have displayed several positive attributes in the previous 11 volumes of this Gentlemen’s Way series. But after the Man of the Year scholarship, they must also be defined as bestowing.
Promo video for Culture & Cocktails, the celebration function for a successful Man of the Year scholarship.
The most fulfilling feeling is to have the ability to give back, especially giving back to the community in which you came from. Yes, many of us move away; to different sections of the city and different cities, states or countries, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give back to your community in some way.
Josh Richardson of the Miami Heat is from Edmond, OK. While he clearly enjoys his time in Miami, he never forgets to give back to his school, church, and neighborhood in which he grew up. Over his four-year NBA career, he’s held a basketball camp in Edmond, OK and the community’s participation grows each and every year.
See, it’s the little things that count. Something that didn’t place too much of a burden on Richardson and his time impacted so many. Like the Grand Gents, you don’t have to have as much celebrity influence in your community to make just as big of an impact or even more. You may have to work a little harder, but it can still be done.
Thanks to the fundraising efforts initiated by Grant Gentlemen and carried through by fellow people in the community, thousands of dollars were fundraised. As a result, three more kids from Oklahoma City’s inner-city will go to college with the Man of the Year scholarship.
