Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle establishes fund in memory of Mary Stanley

Stanley
SHEPHERDSTOWN — The legacy of beloved Shepherdstown resident Mary Stanley, who passed away in 2020, will live on in the lives of countless children in the Eastern Panhandle, thanks to a newly established agency fund with the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation, which helps donors create permanent endowments.
The Mary J. Stanley Fund to Support the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle will do exactly as its name suggests, according to Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation Office Manager Rebecca Knight.
“Mary’s spirit and love for her community will live on forever, as future generations of young ones involved at the club benefit from the scholarships this fund will provide,” Knight said of the Wichita, Kan. native, who retired to Shepherdstown in 1995. “She was involved in many organizations and clubs in the community, and was a longtime supporter of the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle.”
According to Knight, Stanley became fast friends with Stacie Rohn, after meeting her first in 2009. They ended up growing so close to each other, that they spent nearly 10 Thanksgivings meals together, with Stanley becoming something of a mother figure to Rohn.
“Mary was not about pretense,” Rohn said. “She liked good people with good hearts, and she was one of them.”

Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle members show off handmade puppets they made with help from the Jefferson Arts Council, which was inspired by the book, “The Rainbow Fish.” Courtesy photo
When Rohn became the CEO of the club in 2013, Stanley was instrumental in helping support her, often serving as a sounding board.
“[Mary] gave insight from a unique perspective,” Rohn said, mentioning she always wanted to know how the children at the club were doing and was brainstorming about ways to benefit the kids at the club.
According to Knight, Stanley helped Rohn to connect to a larger audience, to tell the story of the club and gain further support for its efforts. Stanley also arranged for Speak Story Series participants to hold workshops for the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle.
“We’re more than babysitting,” Rohn said of the club’s influence. “While club members enjoy new equipment and games, that is not the main reason they attend the Boys & Girls Club. They find their mentor or the person with whom they share their successes or challenges [at the club].”
The Mary J. Stanley Fund to Support the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle will support the club in two ways, first by providing scholarships to incoming kids who want to participate in the club’s summer programs and demonstrate financial need. The summer programs take place over seven weeks and usually have around 60 participants. The club charges a nominal fee for the summer programs, and Rohn noted that usually around three-fourths of the children who participate require some sort of financial assistance, with some receiving scholarships covering up to 75 percent of the fee.
The second way the fund will support the club, will be by providing scholarships to students who have been longtime members of the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle. Each year, clubs around the country name one graduating senior their Youth of the Year.
For 2018 Youth of the Year winner Emily Aronhalt, the club was “a place where they cared if she got her homework done and if she ate that day.”
According to 2016 and 2017 Youth of the Year winner Jonai Jackson, it wasn’t just one person who made being in the club a life changing experience.
“It was pieces of all of you that really helped to shape me,” Jackson said. “The experiences I had in the club helped to make me social and adaptable.”
The Eastern Panhandle Club awards a $1,500 scholarship to their Youth of the Year and, through this fund, will be able to do so this year and for many years to come.
Visit www.EWVCF.org or www.BGCEPWV.net, to learn more and donate to the Mary J. Stanley Fund to Support the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle.
- Stanley
- Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle members show off handmade puppets they made with help from the Jefferson Arts Council, which was inspired by the book, “The Rainbow Fish.” Courtesy photo