On Tuesday, April 23, hundreds of supporters gathered in the Saturn Ballroom to celebrate and raise money at the Village of Promise’s (VoP) 2025 Speaker Series event.

This year’s fundraising dinner featured Alabama Men’s Basketball Coach Nate Oats as the special guest speaker.

VoP helps children and families in under-resourced Huntsville neighborhoods by supporting them with various services and personal encouragement. The nonprofit offers a range of programs, including early childhood education and care, the Promise Institute for adult education and support, and Freedom School, a summer literacy program.

Jane Daniel, VoP’s Board of Directors Chair, opened the event by sharing the organization’s mission.

“It’s a big undertaking and an even bigger privilege to support children from cradle to career and to work with them and their families as they strive to achieve their goals,” Daniel said.

According to Daniel, VoP’s mission is to help its clients “… live free of the bonds of generational poverty and to have opportunity and motivation to give back to their own communities.”

Fresh off the heels of his team’s NCAA Elite Eight appearance, Oats, a former math teacher, shared his deep passion for helping young adults succeed in all areas of their lives. The coach said that while he enjoys winning games, he finds ultimate satisfaction in influencing the overall well-being of his players, past and present.

“So winning is a little bit of what we do, but I’ve tried to maintain the fact that I’m still there to mentor these young men to be better young men and productive members of society moving forward,” Oats said.

His speech to the crowd, which was more like a conversation with an inspirational mentor, showed his enthusiasm for the students he has guided over the years. Oats expressed his admiration for the Village of Promise’s work and its impact on families, stating that this type of long-term, holistic support is more meaningful to him than winning basketball games.

“I’m just going to tell you personally, winning games, the Final Four, was euphoric, it was great. But, on a way deeper level, the story about actually helping somebody in real life for their entire lifetime is a lot more enriching. It means more to do that, in my opinion,” Oats said.

Oats emphasized that even when someone makes a mistake, it’s important to challenge them to keep their life going in a positive direction.

“But guys make mistakes, and I think you can’t get discouraged,” Oats said.

Regarding his coaching style at Alabama, Oats shared the importance of instilling core values such as hard work, continuous growth, and selfless love in his players and teams.

“We talk about what love really is. Your teammates aren’t going to be exactly what you want ’em to be every day. You still got to love ’em, and loving ’em isn’t allowing them to do dumb things you need to address,” Oats said.

He continued, “We teach ’em love your community, love your brothers. And we teach ’em what real love is. Real love is holding ’em accountable,” Oats said.

Earlier in the evening, VoP offered attendees the opportunity to bid online in various silent auctions, with the funds going toward the organization. Items included a basketball signed by Oats, a shopping spree to a local boutique with friends, a tropical vacation, a restaurant gift card package, and more.

As a fun surprise to everyone in the room, Oats spontaneously offered up a play sheet he found tucked in his jacket—a sheet he had used to lead his team to victory over Texas this season. After several rounds of lively bidding, a lucky attendee won the spur-of-the-moment auction item, which included a signature from the coach and an on the spot photo opportunity.

Jaymes Mooney, VoP’s new CEO-elect, was appointed as the organization’s new leader this April. He will officially start his new role on May 1.

The Huntsville Business Journal caught up with Mooney after the event to hear his thoughts on the evening and learn more about his vision for VoP.

“The event tonight was incredible. Coach Nate Oates was just a phenomenal speaker. He inspired us, and to have the Huntsville community come out just made it an exceptional night,” Mooney said.

Mooney’s favorite parts of Oats’ speech? The coach’s exhortation to work hard and demand accountability with love, which the CEO-elect said echoed his future vision for VoP.

“My goals are for us to continue to operate with excellence, treat each person with dignity, and then also continue to just transform our community through partnership and also with love,” Mooney said.

Mooney also shared that one thing that makes VoP special is its two-generation approach to helping kids and their families.

“We recognize that it’s not enough just to work with the children, but you got to work with the parents too. What we learned, and the reason that we start in infancy, is that when we were working with kids that were kindergartners, it was already too late,” Mooney explained.

Overall, Mooney said that for VoP, instilling children with great values and skills (such as literacy) early on will give them what they need to be successful.