A NASCAR fan and native of Mooresville, North Carolina is a finalist for the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award. Julie Wooldridge, a co-founder of Hope of Mooresville, has a chance to bring home a $100,000 donation from the NASCAR Foundation.
Living in Race City, USA, Mooresville, N.C., you have to have a favorite NASCAR driver. The city is home to multiple NASCAR teams, drivers, and team members. For Mooresville resident Julie Wooldridge, her driver is Joey Logano.
Julie, as a co-founder and member of the Advisory Board of Directors for HOMe Hope of Mooresville, cares about not only her community’s native sport but also its residents.
Since its opening in December 2017, Hope of Mooresville has provided homeless women and children in the Mooresville community with a temporary, safe place to stay and much-needed support.
As Julie said in an interview with the Daily Downforce,
“Our program is there to help them learn how to budget their money, any counseling needs they need, any tutoring for the children. We decided to pour on some, love and support on to these people that really don’t have anybody backing them.” — Julie Wooldridge
According to HOMe’s director, Amy DeCaron, the organization began with a bible verse and a realization that a program helping the homeless community of Mooresville did not exist.
“We couldn’t believe we didn’t have this resource in our town. We didn’t even know we had a problem. And so we went to the school system and found out how many kids had been identified as homeless.” — Amy DeCaron, Director of HOMe
Like many non-profits, the Hope of Mooresville requires crucial funding. However, Julie, thanks to her volunteer work at Hope of Mooresville, is one of four finalists for the NASCAR Foundation’s 2024 Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award.
This award is named after Betty Jane France, the late founder of the NASCAR Foundation. The NASCAR Foundation is a 4-Star Charity that began in 2006. According to the organization, since then, it has “contributed more than $46 million to impact the lives of more than 1.7 million children.”
The Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award gives $25,000 to each of the four finalists to go to their non-profit organization. More importantly, one lucky winner receives a $100,000 donation to their organization from The NASCAR Foundation. That winner is selected via a vote on the BJFHA website.
When asked what the money would mean for Hope of Mooresville, Wooldridge said, “Not only is that just going to help us keep our house running. It’s going to open up the doors to provide extra services and resources that our guests need.”
Voting for the 2024 Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award closes on Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. ET, with the winner announced during the NASCAR Awards on Nov. 22. Until then, voters can vote once a day.
For Julie, who admittedly “likes to fly under the radar,” winning this award would be an honor. It will help the organization she co-founded grow and continue its goal of helping those in the Mooresville community.
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