In December as we celebrated Julie Rayes’ retirement from Winning Futures, Julie did not realize that we had a surprise in store for her. As a slide show finished that captured her 10 years of service, the final slide stated: 2021 Sam Cupp Legacy Award, presented to Julie Rayes. As she read it, Julie’s eyes lit up and tears began to form. She greatly admired and respected our founder, Sam Cupp, so she was overjoyed and touched to receive this award.
Julie started her journey with us in April 2005 when she interviewed me for a project as she completed her college degree. Later, when an AmeriCorps position became available with Winning us, Julie applied for the role, and the rest is history! After completing one year of service supporting our mentoring program, we offered Julie a full-time position. As she continued to work in our classroom programs, she began to learn to write grants. Julie eventually moved into a full-time fundraising role and later managed the department. She took our grant writing and donor relations to the next level!
Over her 10 years of dedicated service, Julie mentored students in the program, pitched in when help was needed in the classroom, provided strategic direction for the organization as a member of our leadership team, wrote and submitted hundreds of grants, developed strong relationships with our donors, trained new fundraising employees, and created ever-lasting processes and systems in our development department. Just like Sam, Julie impacted thousands of students through her work and left her mark on this world. It has been an honor to work alongside Julie and to present her with the 2021 Sam Cupp Legacy Award!