Eddie Krenson closes the Fall Fundraiser and speaks to the work we all do.
- allisoncahoon
- Oct 15
- 4 min read
The SCCF Fall Fundraiser featured many meaningful moments (photo album linked below). Morgan McDonald, the National Director of Population Health Leadership at Milbank Memorial Fund joined in discussion with executive director Tom Sanders and LIFT Grundy program manager Elise Krews to discuss community health moving forward on the plateau. Collaborative grants were awarded totalling $50,000. We announced the launch of a health mobility network in partnership with the State of Tennessee, free clinics in Tracy City and Beersheba Springs, two recovery organizations in Pelham and Cumberland Heights, and the Southeast Tennessee Human Resource Agency. Ending the evening was Eddie Krenson, current SCCF Board Chair, who wrapped up the evening beautifully with some words that we are happy to share below:
I spent 42 years in education and 10 years into my teaching career I had the unexpected opportunity to become principal of a 1000 student high school.
I was 34 years old—and as you can imagine—the first few years were not a time for me to ponder the deeper philosophical aspects of the work.
My goal, quite frankly, was merely to survive.
Well survive I did—finally giving me the opportunity to relate to the work on a more meaningful level.
It was early in that phase of my career that I discovered that the Latin root of the word education was the word “EDUCATUS” meaning “brought out.”
Interesting I thought.
If education at its deepest, most authentic level is about bringing out something that is already there, then education in its truest sense had more to do with revelation than it did with knowledge and information.
So one day soon after my discovery, I was in my office with Father Joe McMahon, our Associate Principal, and we pondered for a while what implications this new definition of education might have on our work here at Father Ryan.
The next morning when I came into my office I saw on my desk a copy of Irving Stones 1961 International Bestseller, The Agony and the Ecstasy, the biographical novel about the life of the Renaissance artist Michelangelo.
Beside the book was a note from Father Joe that read, “I hope this helps you on your journey”
Well, I never finished the book because a mere 40 pages in I found what I was looking for. It was a passage where Michaelangelo explained his philosophy of sculpting.
Here is the connection:
In Essence, what Michaelangelo said about sculpting was this. He said, "What you must understand is that I do not create the masterpiece, the masterpiece is already there. What I have is the vision to see the masterpiece locked in the stone and I have the skill and tools, my hammer and my chisel to chip away everything that confines it to bring it out for all the world to see.
About that, he once famously said, “I saw the angel in the stone, and I carved until I set him free.”
“EDUCATUS”
And so it is with all of us here tonight
Like Michaelangelo, we too have a vision. But it is not the vision of one person—it is a shared vision of hope and prosperity, of possibility and potential for the lives of the most vulnerable on this plateau. They are our angels.
The vision of a master craftsman is indeed rare but perhaps even more rare is the shared vision of a community, this community. It was the vision of our founders and it remains our vision today.
Like Michaelangelo, we too have the skill and the expertise to carve through our network of Community Partners the South Cumberland Community Fund is honored to serve as the “Facilitator” of this essential work. We are the hub of the wheel, but make no mistake, our Community Partners are the spokes of that wheel. They are the ones who touch the lives of those in need and give traction to everything we do.
It is they who, through the power of their creative imaginations, design and implement the interventions. It is their arms and tools, their hammers and chisels that do the work of sculpting lives.
It is Community Partners like Better Fi, Housing Hub, the South Cumberland Community Clinic, the Grundy County Food Bank, Morton Memorial, Folks at Home, and Mosaic to mention only a few of the more than seventy community partners who have engaged with us in this work.
And tonight we are proud to add the Tennessee Department of Health to that list.
At this time, I would like to ask any former or current SCCF Community Partners to please stand and be recognized for the transformational work you are doing in this community.
Now you all know that you cannot carve with your bare hands and that is one of the primary reasons you are all here tonight.
It is each and every one of you who through your generosity provide SCCF and our Community Partners with the tools and the resources—the hammers and the chisels—to do the work of release.
It has been your generosity that has provided over two million dollars in grants since our founding over 10 years ago.
It is your generosity that has made possible the grants we have celebrated here tonight.
And It will be your continued generosity that will provide the tools and the resources for the good we will do tomorrow.
So Like Michaelangelo
“We see the angels locked in the stone of this Mountain”
“And we will carve until we set them free”
So it is and so it will be. Thank you all and good night.
Eddie Krenson
See more photos from the evening below: