Dona Usry, a former Trustee of Pensacola State College and Foundation Fellow, is an avid supporter of PSC and an active member of the community.
First arriving in Pensacola with her husband, Dr. Milton Usry, in 1986; Dona quickly ingrained herself into the northwest Florida community. During her thirty-seven years as a Pensacolian, Dona has pursued involvement with several institutions, organizations, and philanthropic efforts across the area.
Including Pensacola State College, its Foundation, and WSRE, the Usrys have supported organizations such as Baptist Health Care, the Pensacola Symphony, the Council on Aging, the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and Manna Food Pantries.
Dona was awarded the Baptist Health Care Hollinger Award on two occasions in 1999 (alongside Dr. Milton Usry) and in 2013. In 2010, she was an Association of Fundraising Professionals recipient of the Outstanding Philanthropist Award for her unwavering passion for helping others and for her leadership of Pensacola State College’s involvement in the “Pick a Bowl & Fill a Bowl” event.
Having served as a Trustee for PSC for fifteen years, she distinguished herself as a Chair and liaison for the WSRE Foundation Board of Directors.
For their continued support of PSC, Dona and Milton were inducted as Pensacola State College Foundation Fellows in November of 2019, the same year that they jointly established the Dona and Milton Usry Endowed Accounting Scholarship.
Dona’s impressive involvement with the College includes year-round attendance to important events, graduations, pinnings, art exhibitions, performances, games, and culinary activities. Her love for Pensacola State extends to social media, where she often can be seen sharing content from PSC accounts and commenting positively with encouraging messages to students, scholarship recipients, College faculty, and staff.
Inspired by Dona’s selfless and philanthropic nature, for her ninetieth birthday celebration this year, attendees shared their blessings through gifts to an organization or cause of their choice. Many chose to contribute to the endowed accounting scholarship held at the PSC Foundation.