Dr. Tim Mantz, Interim Dean of the College of Business and Public Affairs and Dr. Qian Ruby Shen, Interim Department Chair of Accounting & Finance, stopped by Sam’s Club Thursday morning to present a plaque to AAMU alumnus Jawann Johnson. Johnson is the manager of Sam’s Club in South Huntsville, which has been providing food to the AAMU Food Bank “Bulldog Market” for the last six months.
“This started because our food bank was out of food,” says Mantz. “We started contacting people and he was the first to step up in a big way. Because of his generosity and kindness, we have not run out of food ever since, and we have a lot of students that use our food bank, so that is a huge deal,” adds Mantz.
Johnson earned his finance degree at AAMU in 2013 and was a student in Dr. Shen’s statistics class. Shen is also a regular customer in his store.
“When she told me the food bank was running low, I said ‘I’ve got plenty of food I can donate,’ and I made the commitment to contribute every month,” says Johnson.
“It’s wonderful to see former students who now have leadership roles, step up to help our current students,” says Shen. “We wanted to let him know our students appreciate his support.”
Johnson, a native of Chicago, has been with Sam’s Club for 10 years, and started working for the retail company while he was a student at AAMU.
“I actually was part of a business plan competition through A&M with Phi Beta Lambda, Future Business Leaders of America fraternity,” says Johnson. “We had a business plan competition in Atlanta where Sam’s was doing some recruiting and they offered me an internship. After I graduated they offered me a manager in training position and I’ve been with them ever since.”
Mantz says the Bulldog Market is looking for more partners. Anyone interested can email timothy.mantz@aamu.edu or monica. clarke@aamu.edu.