Free Family Donates Funding To CFWA, Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The estate of a late Tuscaloosa native and neonatal respiratory therapist has donated funding for the construction of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter.

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Jeff Free passed away after brief illness in January 2022 at the age of 61. During his professional career, he worked as lead respiratory therapist for AMI Brookwood Medical Center in Birmingham, specializing in perinatal care. Free also served as an instructor and out-patient/home care coordinator.

“It is a wonderful feeling to know that our brother and mother will be forever memorialized this way,” Gregory Free said.

Following his death, Free’s estate also provided $100,000 to the Community Foundation of West Alabama to create the Billie Sue Elkins Free and Jeff W. Free Fund.

“We at the Community Foundation are happy to partner with the Free family to ensure permanent funding of this project,” CFWA President & CEO Glenn Taylor said. "The endowment will provide an annual stream of income to Metro Animal Shelter because a portion of the earnings and capital appreciation from the Elkins-Free Fund will be directed to various future needs at the Shelter. Additional contributions to the Fund are fully tax deductible and can be made anytime to the Community Foundation of West Alabama."

The CFWA serves a nine-county area and provides services that facilitate charitable giving.

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