The We Above Me Alex Switzer Memorial Fund
By Maura Teynor
September 8, 2021
According to his family, Alex Switzer was a kind, generous person who loved kids, senior citizens, dogs, and fishing. He died in a car accident in May, he was just 23 years old.
His mother, Melanie Kline-Switzer, and other family members want to remember Alex with a donor-advised fund at the Richland County Foundation to make grants to local nonprofits that he would have wanted to support.
The fund recently made a grant to the Richland County Dog Warden to have a dog undergo obedience training at the Mansfield Correctional Institution. The training takes four to eight weeks, depending on the dog. The dog then will be up for adoption.
The fund also made grants to support 5K races for the Lucas Community Center and Forgotten Felines.
Kline-Switzer named the fund after the “We Above Me” award Alex earned as a member of the Lucas High School Football Team. She said it summed up his personality, putting other people (and the team) first.
Alex was a 2016 graduate of Lucas High School and was employed by Richland Lumber.
Proceeds from a Go-Fund-Me account were used to start the fund at the Foundation. Alex’s family plans future fundraisers to build the fund.
Anyone is welcome to donate to the fund online or by check to the Richland County Foundation with the fund name on the memo line.
