The Community Foundation announced today that Sherry and Tom Barrat of Singer Island are the recipients of the organization’s 2025 McIntosh Award. The prestigious award, which is named after Winsome and Michael McIntosh, who founded the Community Foundation in 1972, is presented annually to an individual or organization who has made significant contributions to the community.
The Community Foundation will honor the Barrats at its 12th Annual Founders Luncheon at the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts on February 26, 2025.
“Tom and Sherry’s long-standing leadership and investment in our community has opened, and will continue to open, doors to higher education for deserving high school students,” said Jeffrey A. Stoops, Chair of the Board of Directors for the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties. “With this year’s Founders Luncheon marking the 40th anniversary of the Community Foundation’s Scholarship Program, we are proud to celebrate the Barrats, who truly epitomize what it means to empower the youth who will shape our future.”
The Barrats are long-time supporters of local nonprofit organizations, but their particular interest in scholarships began in more recent years, inspired by their grandchildren. Following the creation of a “Thanksgiving Fund” in 2015, through which the Barrats enabled each of their family members to donate annually to the charity of their choice, their grandchildren proposed to pool their contributions in order to give a larger scholarship to a local high school senior.
In 2022, the couple formally set up the Barrat Scholarship Fund with the Community Foundation, focusing on local students majoring in computer science, artificial intelligence, or applied data science.
“It was important to us to make a big difference in a few lives,” said Tom Barrat. “In our view, it’s even better when gifts are given from people in this community to people in this community.”
Sherry Barrat, who served on the Community Foundation’s Board of Directors from 2014-2023, including three years as Chair, added: “We are honored to receive the McIntosh Award because it shines a light on the impact anyone can have on a student’s future through the powerful combination of the Community Foundation’s Scholarship Program and the generosity of our fellow donors.”
“Tom and Sherry Barrat are true trailblazers who are making a real impact on the local level,” said Danita R. DeHaney, President and CEO of the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties. “Each year at our Founder’s Luncheon, we highlight those who are making a meaningful difference and I can’t think of a more deserving pair. The Barrats embody the essence of investing in the community for the greater good. We look forward to celebrating their commitment to opening doors to higher education at the luncheon.”
About the Founders Luncheon
Established in 2014 as the Founder’s Award Luncheon, the Community Foundation’s signature annual event was launched as an opportunity to convene donors and nonprofit partners on important issues facing the region and to celebrate their collective impact. In addition to raising awareness, the Founders Luncheon showcases the important of philanthropy with a special award ceremony.
The Founders Luncheon will be held at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts’ Cohen Pavilion in West Palm Beach on Wednesday, February 26, 2025 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. For additional information, tickets and sponsorship information, please visit founders.yourcommunityfoundation.org.
