The Blackie Wills Golf Classic & Gala supports the Wills Group Community Engagement Program which is focused on Eliminating Childhood Hunger and Ensuring Safe and Healthy Homes
The Wills Group, a family-owned company headquartered in La Plata, MD, announced today that it raised more than $530,000 at its second annual Blackie Wills Gala that took place on September 9, 2018 at Turf Valley Resort in Ellicott City, Maryland.
The Gala supports The Blackie Wills Community Leadership Fund which was formed in 2016 as part of The Wills Group’s 90th anniversary. The Fund honors Julian Blacklock “Blackie” Wills, the third President and CEO of The Wills Group, and carries on his commitment to community and civic engagement.
During the past year, the Fund has donated more than $448,000 to more than 35 charitable organizations across the Mid-Atlantic region to further the company’s community engagement efforts to end childhood hunger and ensure safe and healthy homes.
In 2018, The Blackie Wills Community Leadership Fund supported two partnerships – one with Share Our Strength, an organization focused on eliminating childhood hunger, and the other with Rebuilding Together, an organization that completes approximately 10,000 projects annually to repair homes, revitalize communities and rebuild lives. The Fund also provided support to the Maryland Food Bank, the Southern Maryland Food Bank and Lifestyles of Maryland, a Southern Maryland nonprofit organization that serves approximately 14,000 individuals by providing emergency assistance, transportation, housing and job training.
“Over the past two years, I’m proud to say we have raised more than $1 million for the Blackie Wills Community Leadership Fund which serves as a significant driver for our efforts to ensure that our communities’ basic needs of food and shelter are met,” said Lock Wills, Chairman, CEO and President of The Wills Group. “The support we continue to receive for
the Fund from our event sponsors, employees, and friends warms my heart, and I am humbled; thank you.”
Sponsors of The Blackie Wills Gala include Platinum Level Sponsors – Bohler Engineering, Motiva Enterprises LLC, UST Services Corporation, PNC Bank, Ruppert Landscape, Petro Supply, Inc., Hopkins & Wayson General Contractors, S&D Coffee & Tea, Petroleum Management, Inc. and Lennox; Gold Level Sponsors – Jones & Frank, Samuel Coraluzzo Co, CWPS, Matrix Capital Markets Group, Car Wash Solutions, Eagle Transports, CITGO, R.E. Michel Company, Core-Mark, Shell Oil, Able Applied Technologies USA, and Exxon Mobil Corporation.
Other contributors include Baltimore Tank Lines, Brown Advisory, Due East Partners, Fired Up Promotions, Heritage Printing and Graphics, Innovative Control Systems, L&C Electric, Lane Marketing Group, MJH Project Inc., Myers Auto Service, PAPCO, Inc. and TEC Graphics.
The Blackie Wills Community Leadership Fund is a component of The Wills Group’s community engagement efforts which are focused on helping to Eliminate Childhood Hunger and Ensure Safe and Healthy Homes. Since 2006, The Wills Group has donated more than $2.3 million to communities across Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Please note that this year’s Golf Classic was postponed due to inclement weather and has been rescheduled for Monday, October 29, 2018.
About the Wills Group, Inc.
Headquartered in La Plata, Maryland, the Wills Group has nearly 300 retail locations across the Mid-Atlantic region, including Dash In, Splash In ECO Car Wash, and SMO Motor Fuels. A family-owned company since 1926 with expertise in convenience retailing, fuels marketing, and commercial real estate, the Wills Group prides itself on keeping customers’, employees’, and communities’ Lives in Motion.
About The Blackie Wills Community Leadership Fund
The Blackie Wills Community Leadership Fund was created in remembrance of The Wills Group President Julian Blacklock “Blackie” Wills and his commitment to giving back to local communities. Carrying on this tradition at The Wills Group, The Blackie Wills Community Leadership Fund actively reinvests in the community in order to help ensure that everyone has the opportunity to get their basic needs met and create a better future for themselves and their children. The Blackie Wills Community Leadership Fund (BWCLF) is a component fund within Chesapeake Charities, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. The Chesapeake Charities financial statement is available on their website, www.chesapeakecharities.org, at their office located at 101 Log Canoe Circle, Suite 0, Stevensville, MD 21666, or through the Secretary of State, Charitable Division, State House, Annapolis, MD 21401.
