Every fall, Dr. Bryan Edwards loads up his truck.

Tools packed and bed stacked, he rolls to the work site for the United Way of Payne County Day of Caring, ready for whatever the morning brings. Shovels? Check. Rakes? Of course. He also has paintbrushes, a weed eater and pruning shears.

If Dr. Julie Weathers has it on the list, he’s got it. And if experience has taught Edwards anything, she’s thought of it all.

“Julie anticipates even more things than we could ever need,” said Edwards, interim dean of the Spears School of Business.

He and approximately 30 Spears Business faculty and staff members will spend a sweaty morning trimming trees, mowing, repairing sheds, mopping floors and painting the homes of those in need across Stillwater. For Edwards, it’s one of the best mornings of the year.

“This is an opportunity for me to take a day off of work and actually give back to the community,” he said. “We really get to make an impact in people’s lives.”

That spirit runs deep at Spears Business, where the Day of Caring is just the beginning. Each fall, the Spears United Way campaign pulls the entire college together for three months of events that are as much about community as they are about fundraising.

There’s a chili cook-off, the Great Business Bake-Off, a cornhole tournament, Family Feud and even a silent auction. On top of raising money, each event creates connections that long outlast it.

Edwards has seen it firsthand. He loves getting to have fun with faculty and staff members while breaking down silos and building community. One of those Spears United Way connections even turned into a standing Wednesday night running group for Edwards.

Behind all of it is Weathers, Spears Business director of Strategic Initiatives and Assessment, who has run the school’s United Way campaign with passion for roughly a decade. She leads all fundraising efforts, plans many of the events and organizes the Day of Caring, where she recruits volunteers and arrives in the morning with a list so thorough it includes tools nobody else thought to bring.

She’s also the person who will show up at your office door to personally ask for your support and, as anyone will tell you, it is nearly impossible to say no.

“Julie might be the most underestimated human on the planet,” said Ruth Cavins, executive director of United Way of Payne County.

Quietly and without fanfare, Weathers does the work that moves mountains. Over the last five years, Spears Business generated $175,000 for the United Way of Payne County, which is among the top at Oklahoma State University and represents 11% of the funds raised by OSU as a whole.

Weathers, of course, is quick to deflect the credit to the rest of the college.

“By our contribution level, it means we care,” Weathers said. “We know that many of us are blessed with the ability to give back to our community, and we feel the need to do so. It makes you excited to come to work for an organization that cares about the place where we live.”

The funds reach 21 agencies throughout Payne County, like Stillwater Habitat for Humanity, the American Red Cross of Northern Oklahoma, Stillwater Group Homes, Wings of Hope Family Crisis Services, the Saville Center for Child Advocacy, Mission of Hope Homeless Shelter and many others. Every dime contributed to the United Way of Payne County stays in Payne County.

“It’s cousins that you’re helping,” Weathers said. “It’s friends that you’re helping. It’s people that you know who are being assisted.”

According to Cavins, roughly half of the residents of Payne County live at or below the living wage, and she knows that a united group effort is the only way to combat it. She is appreciative of the generosity of Spears Business and knows that it wouldn’t be nearly as successful without Weathers and her team of volunteers.

“That is the sign of a true leader,” Cavins said. “They are showing you through example how to do something and taking pride in that, not for themselves, but for the good of the collective. When a leader like Julie comes along and says, ‘We need to take care of our community and I’m going to show you how to do it,’ that’s how you create success.”

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Story by: Stephen Howard | Engage@Spears magazine
Photos by: Stephen Howard and provided

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