The local Nucar automotive dealership group recently presented a check for $13,500 as a donation to the Jim Bashaw Fund for Cancer and Catastrophic Illness. The dealership raised the money in a fund-raising during October as Breast Cancer Awareness month by donating $100 for every car sold that month to the Bashaw Fund.

Nucar is continuing a tradition started by the Bokan group, and was even more successful this year, raising an impressive amount for the fund.

“The Jim Bashaw Fund is so valuable in helping people when they need it most,” said Blueprint Program Manager Denise Smith. “We are so grateful that individuals and businesses in our region who recognize this fund as an incredible resource to people and their families at their most vulnerable time.”

Smith is part of the team that handles the administration of the Bashaw Fund applications and disbursements and said that being part of that process has been a powerful experience.

The Bashaw Fund is named for Jim Bashaw, a beloved teacher, guidance counselor and longtime girls’ basketball coach at BFA St. Albans. After being diagnosed with brain cancer in February of 2000, he valiantly fought his illness until his death on August 16th of the same year. Jim’s life and death affected not only his family and friends, but the entire community. To honor Jim’s memory, a fund was established to provide financial assistance to residents of Franklin and Grand Isle Counties who are experiencing catastrophic illness from cancer or other causes.

If you would like to make a donation to the fund, visit https://www.northwesternmedicalcenter.org/for-our-community/community-resources/jimbashaw/ where you can make an online donation.