01/30/2026
Thank you Orange Observer for highlighting our new scholarship with the Jimmy Crabtree Cancer Fund!
The West Orange Scholarship Foundation and the Jimmy Crabtree Cancer Fund have announced a new partnership to better support students who have been directly impacted by cancer in their families.
The Jimmy Crabtree Cancer Fund approached the West Orange Scholarship Foundation to align their long-standing missions in service to the community. Through this collaboration, a designated sponsored scholarship will now be awarded through the existing West Orange Scholarship Foundation program to graduating seniors of West Orange High School whose families have faced the challenges of cancer.
Founded in 1962, the West Orange Scholarship Foundation (WOSF) has consistently worked to expand access to higher education for students in the community. The Jimmy Crabtree Cancer Fund (JCCF) has likewise served families affected by cancer for years in West Orange. Together, the organizations are formalizing a mutual partnership to ensure that compassion is matched with meaningful educational opportunity for youth impacted by cancer in the community.
“This partnership builds on more than sixty years of serving local students and allows us to focus even more intentionally on students facing cancer,” said Beth Wincey, WOSF President.
For Austin Arthur, WOSF Board Member, the partnership carries deeply personal meaning. “Having lost my father to cancer when he was still young, I know how deeply it affects an entire family,” Arthur said. “There is something incredibly powerful when support comes from your own community, from people who walk alongside you not just with resources, but with palpable compassion, faith, and prayer. The Jimmy Crabtree Cancer Fund reflects that kind of care, and I am grateful to be part of a partnership that brings this to others, because like many, my family and I once needed it too.”
Kathee Kittle Pierce, who has served the WOSF over 20 years as Director, Treasurer, President, and currently, WOSF Past-President and Board Advisor, added, “Selecting recipients and following them throughout their college careers is a great commitment of time and energy. The WOSF supports our students emotionally as well as financially, and this collaboration with JCCF validates decades of work done with care and purpose. We are honored to receive this sponsorship opportunity. Assisting those who have experienced the impact of cancer is truly a blessing. Through the years, we have witnessed several of our students affected by cancer enter careers in medical treatment and research in pursuit of helping others and finding a cure.”
The collaboration is especially meaningful for the Jimmy Crabtree Cancer Fund. “Honoring Jimmy has always meant serving others with faith and love for this community, and this partnership helps us continue that mission close to home,” said Andy Crabtree, President of JCCF. Andy’s brother, Jimmy Crabtree, passed away on April 5, 2011, after an eight-month battle with carcinoid cancer. Jimmy’s parents, Fred and Sue Crabtree, who began the organization alongside their family after Jimmy’s passing, also added, “When our family went through what we did with Jimmy, we felt God’s comfort through people who were close, present, and willing to carry the burden with us. This partnership helps us extend that same local compassion to students right here at home who are walking through cancer in their own families.
Full application details are available at www.westorangescholarship.com.
Photographed from left to right: Austin Arthur, Board Member, WOSF; Beth Wincey, President, WOSF; Kathee Pierce, Past-President and Board Advisor, WOSF; Fred Crabtree, Co-Founder, JCCF; and Andy Crabtree, President, JCCF.
ARTICLE:
https://www.orangeobserver.com/news/2026/jan/29/west-orange-scholarship-fund-partners-with-jimmy-crabtree-cancer-fund/
