First Belcher scholarship awarded

Friends and family of the late Dave Belcher gathered on July 10 to award their first scholarship in his honor.

The scholarship fund was established earlier this year by members of the Shades Mountain Baptist Church Sunday school group that Belcher attended.

Belcher, a Vestavia Hills resident, died in January, and the scholarship fund the group started has raised more than $30,000. The scholarship is specifically for young adults living at Big Oak Ranch, which was one of Belcher’s favorite causes. Big Oak Ranch houses children from across Alabama who are suffering from abuse, neglect or otherwise need a new home. The nonprofit is responsible for picking the scholarship winner each year.

The first recipient was Gilbert Rosas, who was awarded $2,500. Rosas is 18 years old and a graduate of Westbrook High School. He played football and basketball in high school.

Rosas plans to attend Gadsden State Community College.

Belcher’s family attended the July 10 ceremony at Shades Mountain Baptist to congratulate Rosas, including Belcher’s wife, Sue, sons, David and Greg, daughter-in-law, Leigh, and grandchildren, Grace and Grant.

Buddy Lockhart and Henry Long are Belcher’s friends and the men heading the scholarship fund. They said they’d like to see the scholarship fund grow to $100,000, so they could give multiple scholarships per year.

It’s all to honor a man who was involved not only in his church and his business, Royal Automotive, but also throughout the community. Lockhart and Long agreed that Belcher was highly committed to community service and supporting nonprofits with both time and money.

“He’s been involved in virtually everything that church has done,” Lockhart said.

“There’s not much in the city, the business or the church end of it that he didn’t have a really heavy hand in,” Long said.