Chapter:

Choosing

Leadership

with Care

For the Amarillo Area Foundation, that moment arrived with the responsibility of selecting its next President & CEO. As one of the largest community foundations in Texas, serving twenty-six counties across the Panhandle, AAF knew this resolution would influence not only the organization’s future, but the future of the communities it exists to serve.

To ensure the search reflected the role’s significance, AAF’s Board of Directors engaged WittKieffer, a nationally respected executive search firm with deep experience in nonprofit and philanthropic leadership. Together, the board, staff, and community stakeholders began a nationwide search that was comprehensive, transparent, and mission-focused, mirroring the organization’s mission.

The process was intentionally rigorous. Hundreds of applications were reviewed, representing leaders from across the country with diverse experience, perspectives, and visions for community impact. Each step, from initial screening to interviews, stakeholder conversations, and final deliberations, required deep discernment and countless hours of focused attention.

At the center of this work was Board Chair Sharon White, whose leadership during the search reflected both the importance of the decision and the care with which it was approached. The intensity of the process was shared by board members and staff alike, who balanced their ongoing responsibilities while dedicating themselves fully to finding the right leader for AAF’s next chapter.

As the process narrowed, two exceptional finalists emerged, each bringing remarkable strengths and a clear passion for nonprofit causes and community leadership. One finalist, known for her innovative approach to leveraging technology for community engagement, offered a fresh perspective on digital transformation in philanthropy. The other, renowned for his longstanding dedication to grassroots organizing, presented a compelling vision grounded in deep local connections and community empowerment. After careful consideration, discussion, and reflection, the board reached a unanimous decision.

Keralee Clay was named the fifth President & CEO of the Amarillo Area Foundation. Her selection marked not only the conclusion of a demanding search but also the beginning of a new chapter rooted in continuity, trust, and a united vision. Keralee brings a deep understanding of the Panhandle, a proven commitment to community-centered leadership, and a vision aligned with AAF’s mission to support, connect, and empower the region it serves.

This search affirmed what has long defined the Amarillo Area Foundation: thoughtful stewardship, strong governance, and a firm allegiance to doing what is best for the community—today and for generations to come.

The next chapter has begun, guided by intention, collaboration, and confidence in the leadership chosen to carry the mission moving forward.

For individuals and families facing homelessness and food insecurity, a warm meal can be the first step toward safety, connection, and lasting change. Through the creation of the HUB feeding site, Transformation Park provides free, nutritious meals to approximately 200–300 people each day while connecting clients to critical resources that support long-term stability.

Transformation

Park:

Feeding HUB

The HUB serves as both a feeding site and a resource center, linking individuals to health screenings, social services, community support programs, recovery resources, and other wraparound services. By partnering with local markets, restaurants, food banks, healthcare providers, volunteers, and community organizations, Transformation Park creates a coordinated response to hunger, homelessness, and the barriers that keep people in crisis.

Funding support covers a portion of the HUB’s lease-to-own costs, utilities, meal expenses, and essential equipment such as tables and chairs. These resources make it possible to serve evening meals, host classes and programs, and create a welcoming space where clients receive care with dignity.

Transformation Park’s impact begins with meeting the basic need for food, but it does not end there. Each meal creates an opportunity to build trust, form relationships, and connect people to services such as mental health care, health support, drug and alcohol recovery, housing navigation, and other programs that help individuals move toward a more stable future.

With a strong volunteer network preparing meals, delivering food, and supporting client navigation, the HUB strengthens Transformation Park’s larger vision: to serve people experiencing homelessness with dignity, nourish immediate needs, and open pathways to hope, healing, and stability.

Conversational

City Lab

Expanding Digital

Access Across the

Texas Panhandle

For many residents across the Texas Panhandle, access to technology is not just about having a device or an internet connection. For many community members, this is about being able to apply for a job, schedule a doctor’s appointment, complete schoolwork, pay bills, manage benefits, communicate with loved ones, and participate in daily life.

Conversational City Lab helps bridge that gap through free, human-centered digital literacy support for underserved communities. Conversational City Lab has quickly become a trusted resource for residents who need practical, one-on-one help navigating technology.

Through a $45,000 grant, Conversational City Lab added capacity, increased coordinated classes, supported additional participants, strengthened internal systems, and sustained the day-to-day work needed to keep services accessible and responsive. This investment allows leadership to focus on strategic growth, innovation, and expansion into additional spaces, helping bring digital support to more communities across the region.

Silver Surfers, a seniors’ digital literacy program, provides classes/workshops and one-on-one help at two primary community locations.

Girls Who Game & Girls Who Code empower middle school students to build confidence, technology, and leadership skills. The Digital Skills Learning Management System (LMS) is in development to extend digital literacy learning across the Panhandle.

Project Reclaim, a program supporting survivors of domestic violence, is headed for public launch on the LMS early this fall. Through this grant, digital literacy builds essential technology skills and confidence. It is a pathway to opportunity, connection, and long-term economic mobility for Panhandle residents who might otherwise be left behind.

Route 66

Writing Project

Strengthens

Rural Literacy and

Belonging

In rural communities across the Texas Panhandle, students carry stories shaped by place—by local history, family roots, small-town traditions, and the changing realities of life along Route 66. The “Route 66 Writing Project” helps bring those stories into the classroom, giving students the opportunity to see their own communities reflected in what they read, write, and create.

Through a $25,000 grant to Dr. Shanna Peeples and Dr. Monica Hart of WT’s Terry B. Rogers College of Education and Social Sciences, this innovative pilot is using place-based writing to strengthen literacy in rural schools. Students will explore local history, culture, and current community issues, then create digital StoryMaps that combine writing, research, media, and personal connection.

By linking English curriculum to the places students call home, the project aims to build stronger literacy skills while deepening belonging and pride in rural identity. It also supports college and career readiness by helping students practice communication, critical thinking, digital storytelling, and community-based research.

The pilot will serve as proof of concept for future expansion into more rural schools, with the potential to create a replicable model for other rural regions. This investment supports AAF’s Strategic Focus Area in Education and advances WT’s leadership in rural education innovation by helping students understand that their stories, their communities, and their futures matter.

Amarillo

Children’s

Home

Strengthening

Mental Health

Support for

Foster Children

A $117,450 grant from the Harrington Foundation is helping Amarillo Children’s Home expand trauma-informed mental health services for foster children and youth across the Texas Panhandle.

For many children entering foster care, removal from home follows prolonged exposure to abuse, neglect, instability, and trauma. Immediate access to mental health care is critical, yet many specialized therapies—such as play therapy, sensory integration, trauma-informed caregiver coaching, and other restorative supports—are not covered by Medicaid.

This grant supports Amarillo Children’s Home in reducing those barriers by expanding early assessments, counseling, evidence-based therapies, telehealth options, and one-on-one trauma-informed coaching for House Parents. These services help children begin healing sooner while equipping caregivers with tools to respond to escalating behaviors, build trust, and support emotional regulation.

As Amarillo Children’s Home continues expanding its continuum of care—including foster care homes, residential care, transitional living, and supervised independent living—this investment ensures children and youth can access the support they need when they need it most. By strengthening mental health services close to home, the initiative promotes healing, stability, resilience, and hope for some of the region’s most vulnerable children.

Donor

Highlight

Stuart & Chancy West

For AAF fundholders Stuart and Chancy West, caring for animals is more than a passion—it’s an obligation they take seriously.

Like many Panhandle residents, they understand the powerful role animals play in shaping our quality of life. Companionship, comfort, joy—these aren’t small things. They shape our daily interactions and provide connection for neighbors experiencing loneliness and isolation. For the Wests, that understanding has grown into a deep belief that pets and other companion animals deserve meaningful care and support.

For more than a decade, Stuart and Chancy have brought that same thoughtfulness to their philanthropy. As fundholders at Amarillo Area Foundation since 2011, they have supported causes that reflect their values—from their church to arts organizations to animal welfare efforts that strengthen their community.

In 2023, their giving took on a new dimension. What began as a vision to support golden retriever rescue—an area especially close to their hearts—grew, through conversation and exploration, into something broader. The opportunity to support animal welfare across the Texas Panhandle—to make a wider, more lasting impact—resonated. That shared vision became the Panhandle Companions Fund.

As their thinking evolved, so did a new belief: real impact means looking beyond today. The Panhandle Companions Fund is designed not just to address immediate needs, but to help ensure animal welfare organizations remain strong and sustainable for the future—so they are still here, adapting and serving for years to come.

This perspective helped shape the direction of the Fund, with Amarillo Area Foundation providing a pathway to turn the Wests’ passion for animals into broader, more lasting impact across the region. While their leadership helped bring the fund to life, their motivation remains simple: to support the well-being of animals across the Panhandle and contribute to efforts that ensure they are cared for.

This spring, the Wests extended that commitment by offering a matching gift for the first annual fundraising appeal for the Panhandle Companions Fund—an invitation for others to join them in this work. At its core, the Wests’ story is one of partnership—working with Amarillo Area Foundation to turn a deep care for animals into a lasting commitment that will support communities across the Panhandle for years to come.

We appreciate everything that the Amarillo Area Foundation is doing for our community. Their commitment and dedication to supporting the Texas Panhandle is truly inspiring, and we are so fortunate to have an organization so deeply invested in the strength, growth, and well-being of our region.”

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