Dickens Family Donates to ECC

(Pictured l-r) Tameka Kenan-Norman, executive director of Public Information & Institutional Advancement; Missy Dickens Pair; Rusty Dickens; Carol Dickens Barker; Jean Bailey, ECC Foundation Board president; and Dr. Greg McLeod, ECC president

The family of the late Jim Dickens presented the Edgecombe Community College Foundation with a $2,200 scholarship Monday.

Dickens was deeply involved in the community, serving on the Salvation Army Advisory Board, the Rocky Mount Kiwanis Club and past president of the Rocky Mount Area Chamber of Commerce, among other organizations. He founded Jim Dickens Business Forms in 1978, which later became Jim Dickens Printing and Promotional Products.

The dedication Dickens gave to the community and his love for education prompted a partnership between the Rocky Mount Rotary Charitable Trust and the Dickens family to host an annual First Responders event that took place pre-COVID. The event has not occurred since the start of the pandemic. The Dickens family decided to gift $4,400 of those funds equally to ECC and Nash Community College for scholarships to first responder programs.

“We greatly appreciate the Dickens family for their generous support of our college, our first responder programs and our students,” said ECC President Dr. Greg McLeod. “This contribution will significantly enhance our ability to prepare and equip our students with training to serve as EMTs, paramedics, firefighters and law enforcement officers in our communities.”