Lafayette, LA - Carolyn Doerle and Dr. William C. "Kip" Schumacher are the recipients of the 2019 Leaders In Philanthropy Award for Lafayette Parish, presented by Community Foundation of Acadiana (CFA) and sponsored by Hancock Whitney Bank. Gulf Coast Bank is the Lafayette Parish honoree.
They will be honored during an awards ceremony on Thursday, November 7 at 11:30 a.m. at the Cajundome Convention Center in Lafayette. Seats are $75 per person and $500 per table of eight. Reservations can be made online at www.cfacadiana.org/lip. The deadline to RSVP is October 25.
Carolyn is the former owner of Doerle Food Services, LLC, a company founded in 1950 by Carolyn’s late father, Paul A. Doerle, Sr. Since 1988, Carolyn served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of the company, and in 2003 she purchased it. Throughout, Carolyn has been recognized as a top business leader, receiving numerous awards for her entrepreneurship, professionalism, civic involvement, and community leadership.
Dr. William “Kip” Schumacher, M.D., FACEP is the Founder and Executive Chairman of SCP-Health (formerly Schumacher Group and Schumacher Clinical Partners). The company was established in 1994. Kip is a board certified emergency medicine physician who has been honored as a Hero of Emergency Medicine by the American College of Emergency Physicians in 2007. Kip has served as Chairman and a Founding Member of the Emergency Department Practice Management Association and the Physicians for Fair Coverage association. Kip has spoken about and published articles on the challenges faced by the healthcare industry.
Carolyn and Kip’s generosity have impacted communities in our state, in our country and around the world. They have advanced philanthropic initiatives in a number of areas - most notably as to disaster relief, mission aid and educational support.
In 2018, Kip and Carolyn founded the William C. Schumacher Family Foundation, establishing the foundation as a Supporting Organization of Community Foundation of Acadiana. The foundation focuses on groundbreaking initiatives executed through cooperative endeavors and strategic partnerships.
For years, the Schumachers have expanded the reach of the Kobonal Project in Haiti, a project associated with Cross Catholic. Carolyn first became involved with this humanitarian program by volunteering Doerle Food Services, LLC to serve as a collection point in the Lafayette area for donations to the mission. Kip and Carolyn have visited Haiti where they helped to build homes, feed the needy and promote the microenterprise program.
In times of natural disaster, the Schumachers have led the way. Partnering with Eight Days of Hope, Kip and Carolyn were instrumental in accelerating the organization’s growth and geographical reach. Their support has given Eight Days of Hope the capacity to serve tens of thousands of people impacted by natural disasters.
The Schumachers’ vision also led them to invest in Leader in Me throughout Acadiana, doing so in partnership with United Way of Acadiana. The Leader in Me program fosters student-led learning, promotes student responsibility and teaches the social-emotional skills necessary for a student to be life-ready. Already, their contribution has positively impacted thousands of students throughout many parishes in Acadiana.
The couple has supported the development of Moncus Park by helping to raise substantial funding. Through their efforts, the construction of the Farmers' Market Pavilion has been fully funded, and it will be named after Carolyn's father, the late Paul A. Doerle, Sr. Carolyn and Kip have partnered to give kids from low-income households a cause for hope. Through a matching grant to Bridge Ministry of Acadiana, they raised funds to empower lives through "spiritual transformation, education, and neighborhood revitalization" in Lafayette neighborhoods.
They support Leadworthy, a national program focused on building the leaders of tomorrow. Leadworthy is a teen leadership organization that is changing the way students take on personal responsibility, express themselves and make good decisions when problems arise.
The Schumachers’ philanthropic reach has gone as far as India, through the Pratham Education Foundation. Pratham is an innovative learning organization created to improve the quality of education in India. As one of the largest non-governmental organizations in the country, Pratham focuses on high-quality, low-cost, and replicable interventions to address gaps in the education system. Pratham is also the first major organization to achieve lasting, wide-scale success in India's educational landscape.
In 2019, the William C. Schumacher Family Foundation partnered with Love Acadiana to create Love Our Schools. Love Our Schools raised over $1M to fund over 100 service projects performed at eight schools in Lafayette Parish. Nearly 3,000 volunteers renovated school campuses, five-thousand students received backpacks filled with school supplies, and 750 faculty and staff members were provided resources to purchase necessary supplies. Love Our Schools was created to raise awareness around public education, encouraging the community and our state to rise in support of improved academic outcomes.
The Schumachers have also supported organizations such as Solomon House, Academy of the Sacred Heart, Iberia Cultural Resources, Bayou Teche Museum, Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, Acadiana Center for the Arts, ACE Scholarships Louisiana LLC, Boys & Girls Clubs of Acadiana, and the fund for fallen officer Corporal Michael Middlebrook.
Leaders in Philanthropy Awards are presented annually to outstanding individuals or couples from each of the eight parishes of Community Foundation of Acadiana’s primary service area who have made a philanthropic impact in their communities through substantial charitable contributions to or by attracting substantial contributions for nonprofits, churches or schools.
Community Foundation of Acadiana is a tax-exempt, donor-centric, entrepreneurial foundation in Lafayette, LA. Its core purpose is building legacies and improving communities by connecting generous people to the causes they care about. CFA is south Louisiana’s premier philanthropic organization benefiting our region, with a particular focus on the parishes of Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Mary, St. Martin and Vermilion. CFA is the host of South Louisiana Giving Day, the largest online fundraising event for nonprofit organizations, churches, and schools throughout Acadiana. Learn more at www.cfacadiana.org.