The Greater Belhaven Foundation (GBF) is excited to announce this year’s Heart of Belhaven Award winners: John Scarbrough and Sarah Skelton. The Heart of Belhaven Award goes out annually to neighbors who consistently go above and beyond for the Belhaven neighborhood, giving their time, effort, and resources to make Belhaven a better place for residents, business owners, and visitors.
The award honors the leadership and deep care that truly define Mississippi’s largest historic district. “The Heart of Belhaven Award recognizes those whose generosity and dedication truly reflect the spirit of our neighborhood,” GBF executive director Mary Alex Thigpen said. “John and Sarah truly went above and beyond this year in the amount of time they dedicated to not just the Foundation but to the improvement of our entire neighborhood. This recognition is just a small token of our appreciation of their efforts.” Scarbrough, a member of the GBF Board of Directors and general manager of Paul Moak Honda and Subaru in Belhaven Heights, played and continues to play an integral role in making Belhaven a business-friendly environment and ensuring public safety throughout the neighborhood’s footprint.
In 2025, Scarbrough chartered and chaired the Greater Belhaven Business Coalition and the Greater Belhaven Public Safety Committee. The Greater Belhaven Business Coalition holds monthly meetings with local businesses with the goals of community development, advocacy, and resource-sharing. Accomplishments have included working with providers for faster internet, paving roads in a business district, and removing blighted property. Scarbough’s work as chair of the Greater Belhaven Public Safety Committee resulted in the installation of scalable security technology throughout the neighborhood and several new partnerships between the Greater Belhaven Foundation and local law enforcement groups.
Examples included a new collaboration with the National Crime Information Center and closer collaboration with the Capitol Police Department, Jackson Police Department, and Saums Security Consulting, along with law enforcement and security groups at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Baptist Hospital, Belhaven University, Millsaps College, First Presbyterian Church, First Baptist Church, and the Mississippi State Fairgrounds.
Skelton, a member of the GBF Board of Directors and chief financial officer at the Mississippi Children’s Museum, leads quietly and with strategic action through her role as GBF’s treasurer. Her duties include but are not limited to overseeing the foundation’s budget, managing donations, reporting financial health to the board, providing financial guidance that support’s GBF’s mission, and overseeing the internal side of an annual audit. Another key role of Skelton’s is assuring Community Improvement District (CID) funds, along with other public funds and grant monies, are used properly. With Belhaven residents voting in April 2022 in favor of the neighborhood becoming a CID, meaning the enactment of slightly higher taxes for the sake of neighborhood improvements, GBF was tasked with managing the funds through a strategic plan. The plan includes projects like the implementation of further public safety measures, traffic calming, combating blight, and improving greenspace.
