AMRS 2025 Winners

The Ausie Rivens Scholarship Foundation was established in 2004 in honor of one of the first Black barbers in Cornelius, NC. The foundation is located at 20805 Catawba Avenue, where the original barbershop was built in the late 1950s. Rivens, the father of 12, began his career as a barber by cutting the hair of family members and white neighbors in his front yard. In addition to working as a barber, Rivens was a tenant farmer. As his clients increased, Rivens relocated his business to other locations: Clarence Cornelius' barbershop and the Smithville Community Center.

The Rivens' Little Free Pantry, launched in August 2020 at 20805 Catawba Ave, is named in memory of Ausie and Martin Rivens. Martin Rivens, a Smithville native and an all-star baseball player at Gardner Webb University, died suddenly on July 16, 2020.  Rivens, the Executive Director of the nonprofit, says she launched the Pantry as a tool to cope with the family's loss.  Martin most recently worked at The Pines in Davidson and was loved dearly. "Many people are struggling for basic necessities right now yet the community support and concern for our loss was overwhelming.  The Little Free Pantry is one method to support our community, which showed so much love and support for us during a really difficult time."  The 501c3 was renamed to the Ausie and Martin Rivens Scholarship Foundation.  

Mission: To empower area youth by providing life skills workshops, providing food outreach, promoting continued education, and providing educational and financial assistance for future employment skills and entrepreneurial success. Donated $20K in Chromebooks to area students, hosts youth conflict resolution workshops, job skills workshops, financial literacy workshops, computer literacy for students, healthy alternatives sessions, basic computer classes for seniors,  Angels in Pink Luncheon (in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month), Lake Norman Empowerment Festival, supports families of Title I schools, hosts food outreach events, Little Free Pantry, provides scholarships and supports  domestic violence awareness.  More than $25K in scholarships have been donated over the past 19 years.

According to Healthline publication, about 82% of Black women live at least 5 years after their initial breast cancer diagnosis, compared to 92% of white women. But Black women are 41% more likely to die from breast cancer even though their incidence rates are similar to or lower than those of white women.  Some of the barriers for Black women include: the cost of healthcare, access to mammograms, medical mistrust and late-stage diagnosis.