Brian Rush Scholarship Committee members, family, and friends gather prior to distributing Christmas gifts to a needy family through the Christmas Cheer program.

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John Lentz

One Scotland County family had an abundant Christmas in 2011 thanks to a local charitable organization.

Members of the Brian Rush Scholarship Committee “adopted” a family in need for the Christmas holidays through Christmas Cheer, a project of the Church Community Services organization designed to provide presents for disadvantaged persons.

It was the second time the committee had signed up to provide gifts for a family in need.

“Everything that was on the list made by the family of five, which consisted of a mother and four children, was purchased by a committee member,” said Bobbie Rush, who formed the committee with her husband Haywood in honor of their late son.

“This was Brian’s favorite time of the year, and I am so grateful for the commitment from committee members to help other families.”

Committee member Louise Williams agreed.

“It makes me feel so good to be able to help someone else at this time of the year,” she said.

The scholarship was established in honor of the late Brian Haywood Rush, a 2001 Scotland High School graduate who died from cancer in 2010. Bobbie Rush said that because Brian was a college graduate, the family thought that creating a scholarship “to aid in the educational success” of the college careers of Scotland High seniors would be a worthy endeavor.

“I’m glad to be able to do this because it helps me a lot in keeping Brian’s name alive,” she said when the scholarship was created. “We are proud to present scholarships … to these worthy participants.”

Brian graduated from North Carolina A & T State University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2006. A supervisor at United Parcel service in Greensboro, Rush “loved to play the trumpet, ride his motorcycle, and produce beats on his keyboard,” his mother said.

Brian also created his own company, “Swagga Beats”.

Diagnosed with cancer in 2009, Rush died on July 3, 2010.

On Feb. 25, the Scholarship Committee will sponsor a fundraiser dinner with entertainment from mime teams and singing groups at Franklin Chapel Church beginning at 6 p.m. Tickets will be $10 per person with all proceeds going toward the scholarship fund.