Courage Ride co-founder honored with Everence Hillcrest Stewardship Award
In recognition of her lifetime of exemplary stewardship, Jackie Bailey, co-founder of the Courage Ride, was the first recipient of the first Everence Hillcrest Stewardship Award.
The award, created in collaboration between Hillcrest Academy and Everence Financial, aims to shine a light on Hillcrest alumni and friends who are going above and beyond in their practice of Christian stewardship – sharing time, talents, and resources to positively impact the greater good and their community.
Rachel Swartzendruber Miller, Everence Vice President of National Markets, presented the award to Bailey at Hillcrest’s alumni night basketball in December 2024.
Bailey, with help from her late husband Tom, established the Courage Ride, an annual bike ride that raises awareness and funds for sarcoma cancer research. So far, the event has raised more than $1 million for cancer research.
Since its beginning, the Courage Ride has been dedicated to the memory of Seth Bailey, the Baileys’ son. Seth was diagnosed with soft-tissue synovial sarcoma cancer while he was a high school student at Hillcrest Academy in 1995. After a courageous battle, Seth passed away in 2003.
The Everence Hillcrest Stewardship Award was created as part of a preferred partnership between Hillcrest Academy and Everence Financial to support Hillcrest and their alumni and friends as they establish legacy or planned gifts. Charitable services is one of the many ways Everence works with individuals so they can more easily give back to the organizations and causes they care deeply about.
Everence Financial is a faith-based financial services organization founded in 1945 on the principles of Christian Stewardship, the belief that all we have (time, talent, and resources) is an abundant gift from God, and therefore should be managed well and shared generously.
To learn more about how Everence can help you on your financial, Medicare or retirement journey, visit your local Everence financial planner, Kent Blossom, at 301 5th St in Kalona. Or, at Kent.Blossom@Everence.com / 319-449-0953.