Our Passion: Our Heartfelt Purpose
Founded by Jessica Basham, this foundation is a loving tribute to her daughter, Schuylar, who displayed unwavering faith, courage and love in her battle against cancer. Despite the immense pain of the loss, Jessica’s love for her daughter and her desire for Schuylar’s legacy and passions to live on have inspired her, along with family and friends to embark on this remarkable journey.
Driven by a shared love for others and a deep commitment to making a difference, Jessica is harnessing her own passions along with those of her beloved daughter to create a movement of hope and support. The Schuylar Barnes Foundation will be a beacon of light for familes touched by cancer, Mother’s who have lost children, at-risk youth, and victims of sex trafficking.
Through the foundation, Jessica aims to honor Schuylar’s memory by spreading love, kindness and compassion to those who need it most. Join us a we create a legacy that embodies the power of faith and love to heal and uplift even in the face of adversity. Come along side us in celebrating Schuylar’s life and her love that continues to inspire us all at The Schuylar Barnes Foundation. Together, we can “Love Like Crazy” just like Schuylar did!
Schuylar's Journey
On this day, we reflect on the remarkable journey of Schuylar Reggi Barnes. Schuylar's passion for missions and combating sex trafficking ignited during her college years when she took a stand against modern-day slavery on the grounds of Marshall University oragninzing a 24-hour Stand event. Her passion for missions grew as she ventured out on mission trips to Haiti and Isreal during the next couple years of college. Her dedication and God’s calling only grew stronger. She prayed for guidance and the right decisions. Once she was sure she knew what God was calling her to do she committed herself and embarked on an 11-month mission trip to Central & South America. She would get on a plane to further champion the cause she deeply believed in, just 3 weeks after her college graduation. On The World Race, Schuylar went into communites with her squad and team and ministered to the lost and the broken. She prayed with girls in brothels that she knew had been forced into the trafficking life and it broke her heart. But it gave her the spirit to pray, raise awareness and have faith that she was making a difference.
After the race Schuylar's path led her to Nashville, where she took a job with Abel. Abel is an organization empowering women, both in Nashville and around the world, by providing high-quality jobs, living wages and safe working conditions for the people making their pieces.
Her unwavering spirit then took her back to Georgia, where she joined Adventures in Missions. Here, Schuylar played a pivotal role in establishing the Beauty for Ashes program, offering women a transformative journey dedicated to serving and uplifting women worldwide. While in Georgia she was also an intragal part of starting a “Bag Program” with Restoring Dignity Georgia so that kids going into foster care would not have to carry their belongings in a black plastic bag.
Missions changed Schuylar’s life in many ways. It helped her find herself while on The Race. It also led her to her husband Joe. They both worked for Adventures in Missions, and Joe also went on The Race. He went at a different time and to many other countries than Schuylar, but missions was a part of his life too and what brought them together. After they dated for awhile, Joe would propose and they would be married. A year and 12 days later they would welcome their Sweet Son Vander to their family. Unfortunatly just 10 months later Schuylar would be diagnosed with cervical cancer that would end up matastisizing to her liver. She fought a very courageous fight for 18 months, never losing her faith, her light, her spirit or her smile. She continued to love her people fiercely and others right where they were. She loved people for who they were, not their lifestyle, not their story, just as they were! Even during the toughest part of her fight she kept her faith. She would make the hardest trip of her life in the back of an SUV, on a mattress, from the hospital in Virginia to a church in Georgia to be baptized. Later that week she would go back to that church to be in the service and worship, and be baptized for a second time. Her faith was unwavering, she was commited to following where she felt God was leading her. This particular week he led her into a baptistry where she would have to be carried in, but once baptized she came out of the water standing on her own, hands raised to the Heavens, praising God. and walked out of the baptistry on her own. He called her to this church where as she stood that night in the baptistry, dozens of people were saved because of seeing her baptism. Ultimately God chose to heal her by calling her home with him…BUT People were saved because Schuylar was faithful, not just in that church, but in her community, in her state, her country and in other countries. Because of her faithfulness to God’s calling other people were touched and saved.
Today, we honor Schuylar's legacy and passion in the fight against sex trafficking, to spread her faith and God’s Love to the broken and to make the lives of others in her own community better. Her kindness, determination, and unwavering commitment continue to inspire us all to stand up against injustice and make the world a better place for everyone.
About Jessica Basham
If you were to ask Jessica to define herself, she would eagerly share a powerful truth: “I’m a Child Abuse Survivor, Foster Teen, Teen Mom, Touched by Adoption, Happily Married, Business Owner, Mom of Three, Ginga to Two (soon to be three), Touched by Cancer (Daughter & Mom), Angel Momma, Foundation Owner, but Most importantly I AM A CHILD of GOD.”
Jessica has always had a profound passion for people, particularly focusing on foster teens and at-risk youth. This dedication has only deepened in light of the heartbreaking loss of her beloved daughter in 2020. Now, she not only advocates for those young individuals but also feels a deep sense of connection and empathy for other Moms who have experienced the painful loss of their children. As a Mom who has navigated the dark waters of losing a child, her heart aches for Moms facing similar struggles, and she strives to be a source of comfort and support. She believes that building a community for these Moms to come together and support each other will allow for a certain level of healing in their grief process. She says “Everyone’s grief journey is different, but that dosen’t mean you have to walk it alone.”
These passions, intertwined with Schuylar’s heartfelt commitment to supporting victims of trafficking, are what make this foundation immensely meaningful to her. Not only is she dedicated to carrying on her daughter’s beautiful legacy through the foundation, but she also finds fulfillment in pouring her heart and soul into the lives of individuals she genuinely understands.
Throughout her life, Jessica has bravely faced an immense amount of adversity. From her early years as a child abuse survivor to navigating the anguish of losing her daughter to cancer, and every challenging moment in between, she has emerged as a powerful survivor. It is this resilience and her experiences that have ignited a fierce passion for helping others. Jessica truly believes that with the right kind of support and loving individuals in our lives, anything is possible. By reaching out and assisting foster teens, at-risk youth and trafficking victims, we can offer them a genuine chance at a better life—a life that many of them may believe they do not deserve. Through our kindness, we hold the power to instill courage and boost their self-esteem, proving to them that they are worthy of everything wonderful life has to offer. Ultimately, all it takes is for us to be kind and to demonstrate that there are compassionate people who truly care. The Bible calls upon us to help the widows and the orphans, which makes it our sacred duty to undertake this noble work.
Jessica will strive every day to carry out a legacy Schuylar lived by: “Love Like Crazy”!!