WOMEN WHO INSPIRE
HARD WORK PAYS OFF
PR and events professional
Barbara Washington - dedicated volunteer
By VICKI BENNINGTON
Martin Luther Mathews heard her speak as
a torchlighter, she began volunteering at the
club, and was eventually offered a job.
At times, life has been challenging for
Barbara Washington, but even when things
seemed bleak, she had a song in her heart
and found the spirit that gave her hope.
She started in PR, added volunteer
management with 250 professional
volunteers, then fundraising and
development, and went on to event planning
that incorporated it all.
As a young girl, Barbara moved from the hot
delta of Bourbon, Mississippi to Fort Knox,
Kentucky, then to Nuremburg, Germany.
There she became fluent in German and
discovered her independence. She came
back to the states to bury her mother in
Mississippi, then to her sister’s home in St.
Louis, where she decided to stay and make a
home for herself and two boys.
During her 30-year tenure at the club, she
developed and/or directed many programs,
like the Sheer Elegance Fashion Show,
a holiday fundraiser for the club’s girls’
programs, and The Sky is the Limit, a
career-readiness program matching girls
from area school districts with St. Louis
area businesswomen, and Barbara planned
dozens of fundraisers, ultimately raising $60
million to keep the various programs going.
She also introduced the Rams football team
to St. Louis and vice president Joe Biden
when he announced the youth job’s program
for the state of Missouri.
She worked three jobs to make ends meet,
believing that if you work hard, it will pay off.
Now retired as vice president of public relations
and special events at Mathews-Dickey Boys’
& Girls’ Club, and owner of Bobcat Event
Management & Consulting, LLC, launched
earlier this year, Barbara had no idea how true
that belief would prove to be when she was
growing up in rural Mississippi.
“Things happened in my life that could have
caused me to fail, but I didn’t wallow in
sadness,” she said. “My mom was ill, my dad
didn’t want me. But my uncle loved me, and
called me Bobcat because I was tenacious
and hard working, and he said he knew I
would be successful someday.”
School was her refuge. She was smart in
school, and several teachers encouraged and
helped her along the way.
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After moving to St. Louis, she studied
business and journalism, while working at a
bank, as a cocktail waitress, and a restaurant
hostess, sometimes catching five buses in
the mornings in order to get the boys to
school and get where she needed to be on
any given day.
“One day, my sons and I faced a real
dilemma and were almost homeless, but
thanks to a good Samaritan, we found a
place,” she said. “I always told the boys no
matter what the circumstances, we should
always be grateful and always be nice
to people.”
GAZELLE STL
She took her children to church, which she
said played a major role in their upbringing.
“I volunteered at church, and the women
there inspired me,” she said. “One woman
helped me with outfits for work. Another
always invited us to her house for Sunday
dinner; another taught me how to pay bills.”
She began working for a temp agency as an
executive assistant, and ultimately, landed
a job at General American Life I nsurance
Co., which was a positive turning point for
the family. She was also chairperson of the
company’s Red Cross Blood Drive in St.
Louis and secretary of the Women’s Society
and volunteered with the United Way of
Greater St. Louis, becoming one of the
organization’s first torchlighters.
“I learned many skills by observation and
then putting those things into practice,” she
said. Her job at General American prepared
her for her next opportunity at MathewsDickey Boys’ and Girls’ Club.
Barbara also loves to sing. Her gospel CD,
“Calvary Lord,” raised $50,000 for The Sky
is The Limit scholarship program, which
helped establish the Barbara A. Washington
Scholarship via a challenge match by Irl
and Sue Engelhardt, resulting in a $150,000
endowment.
Barbara Washington discusses program
details for a “Media Persons of the Year”
dinner roast with Baseball Hall of Fame announcer Jack Buck, who emceed the event.