Meet Brenna Barger | Board Member of A Heart Like KB

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brenna Barger and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brenna, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
‘A Heart Like KB’, established in honor of my dad, serves as a beacon of hope and support for our community. Through helping student athletes and coaches in need, inspired by my dad’s passions, we strive to carry forward his legacy of hard work, encouragement, leadership, and respect. Whether it’s providing student athletes a scholarship towards their future education, providing coaches in need with funds for equipment, or being able to help someone, our aim is to make a lasting and positive impact on the lives of those we reach, just as my dad did during his lifetime.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My family started the foundation ‘A Heart Like KB’ in honor of my father, Kevin Barger, who passed away unexpectedly on October 31, 2020. It took a lot of time, paperwork, and preparation to actually make the foundation happen, but we knew we wanted to be able to honor him, so we did not give up.

Kevin Barger grew up with the love of playing sports. He eventually ended up playing baseball at Campbell University. Not long after attending Campbell, Kevin started coaching a baseball league. Not long after that, he had kids and helped coach both of them throughout their entire childhood. Even after his children graduated, he was still coaching. Kevin even got to coach with his son for a short time.

The love of sports was so strong in Kevin’s blood that he actually was a sporting goods salesman. This required selling equipment, uniforms, and whatever was needed for a specific sport all over the country. Kevin truly loved his job. We had many of his coworkers reach out after he passed, but one stuck out in particular. We had a man mail a letter to us stating that my dad was his mentor. He explained what a huge help my dad was to him in his day to day life and how much he looked up to my dad. Kevin exemplified trust, leadership, hard work, and respect, not only as a coach, but as a man as well.

Kevin wanted to pour into the lives of young people and make a difference. He loved being able to help someone get better at something. After he passed, our family had many players my dad had previously coached reach out. Some said that they will never forget how encouraging he was and how excited he got them about a sport they loved, some said Kevin was the reason for why they are coaching now, and others explained the positive impact that he had on them at a pivotal age.

When someone you love passes, the hurt you feel is unbearable. My family was not expecting our rock to pass. However, we did not want my dad’s story to end. What better way of keeping his legacy going than to positively impact the lives of others with my dad’s passions in his name? To me, he was the greatest man in the world and I can’t wait to tell and show others about him.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are many people I could give thanks to. Family, friends, coworkers of my dad, players my dad has coached, and people all throughout our community who have helped support us. “The Do It 4 W” Foundation has been an inspiration for us. Cindy Hudson has been a tremendous help in answering so many questions of how to start and run a foundation. “The Do It 4 W” Foundation is in honor of W.C. Hudson. W.C. and my father, Kevin Barger, actually coached together and helped mentor athletes throughout many years. Cindy helped us understand that through a foundation, not only can you help others, but you can help others by honoring the person that you lost.

Facebook: ‘A Heart Like KB’ Facebook page