As Rev. Dr. Randolph Meade Walker prepared for his retirement as pastor of Castalia Baptist Church, he wanted to create a legacy that honors a lifelong commitment to faith and education. He “learned to give in the church,” he says, planting a seed of commitment to community that has played out in his service as a clergyman, his tenure as an associate professor at LeMoyne-Owen College, and his generosity to causes he holds dear.
Through the Deloris Adair and Randolph Meade Walker Fund at the Community Foundation, Dr. Walker will support nine churches and institutions of higher learning, including LeMoyne-Owen and his alma mater, Hampton University. When talking about his giving, he speaks of the deliberate and inspired decisions he and his late wife, who passed away in 2020, made. “What do we want our lives to be and say?” he recalls asking, and one answer is investing in institutions that mattered most to them: the Black church and the Black college.
His is just one story of generosity that we're sharing during Black Philanthropy Month.