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Endowment Fund set up for USM's Children's Center
Sept 19, 2008- As a young teen, Beth Harrison loved to not only be around the youngsters at the University of Southern Mississippi's Children's Center for Communication and Development, she did what she could to help them.
She still is, in so many ways.
Harrison was 15 when she passed away on Feb. 5, 2007, after a blood vessel in her brain burst with no warning.
In her memory, her parents, Kevin and Wanda Harrison, set up the Rebekah Elizabeth "Beth" Harrison Endowment Fund. The proceeds are used to help support the daily operations at the Center, which welcomes preschoolers from across 15 counties with communication, physical or mental disabilities.
"She had a real love for these children," said John Harrison, Beth's grandfather. "It was a real passion for her."
Kevin Harrison, co-owner of Heritage Vision Center in Oak Grove, presents a check to Margaret Buttross Brinegar, director of the University of Southern Mississippi's Children's Center for Communication and Development. From left: John Harrison (grandfather of Beth Harrison), Wanda Harrison (mother), Kristy Gould (Children's Center board member), and Brett Kemker Chair of the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences). (TIM DOHERTY | Hattiesburg American)
Thursday morning, the Harrisons were on hand to donate $2,000 to the Center in her name through Heritage Vision Center, the Oak Grove business John Harrison once owned before passing it on to his son and daughter-in-law.
"She was really special," said Margaret Buttross Brinegar, the Center's director. "She was mature beyond her years. She just didn't like these kids, she wanted to help them."
That started when she was 14 and continued until her death. Beth Harrison hand-made eyeglass holders to sell at her parents' store, and then donated the proceeds to the Center.
Her parents have kept that tradition alive. The store sets aside a percentage of every sale it makes in July and then donates that money.
"We started doing that in 2005," Kevin Harrison said. "We had been looking to get involved, and to me, this was the ideal place. When I first walked in here, I said, 'I'm sold.'"
That annual donation now is funneled into Beth Harrison's endowment, which has grown to more than $27,000.
And since his daughter's death, that commitment only has deepened.
Just outside the western fence of the Center's playground, on the crest of a small hill, a tree sits between two benches, overlooking an area that regularly rings with squeals of delight and high-pitched laughter.
The tree was the same age at its replanting as Beth Harrison at her passing, and every Sunday, before church, Kevin Harrison comes to that spot to share donuts amid the memory of his daughter.
"My heart is so much here," he said. "She just loved it here."
Courtesy of The Hattiesburg American