Chuck & Alda Watlington

Chuck & Alda Watlington

Jesse’s Mother & Father

Alda Watlington is the Chairman of The Jesse Watlington Memorial Foundation. In 1984, she graduated in Public Relations from F.A.A.P. in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 1988, Alda moved to the United States to pursue studies in international marketing. In 1997, she married Chuck Watlington and they have 2 beautiful children together. Jesse was their only son. Although she has been the president of multiple businesses, her two greatest and most rewarding jobs were being the caregiver for 7-years to her mother-in-law who suffered from advanced Alzheimer’s and being the mother to both of her children.

Chuck Watlington is the Vice-President of the foundation and handles it’s daily operations. Born and raised in Cleveland, OH and relocated to South Florida in 1982. Chuck is a veteran of the U.S. Army and attended both Ashland University and the University of Tampa, where he majored in History. He has been in the retail furniture business for over 33-years.

Together, they have been married since 1997 and have one daughter, Carolina, and one son, Jesse. In 1998, they founded multiple retail furniture stores in South Florida that are still in business today.

In 2013, they relocated to Windermere, Florida near Disney World. Now, their primary focus is The Jesse Watlington Memorial Foundation. Named after their 11-year old son Jesse, who was tragically and needlessly struck by lightning in Ft. Myers, Florida on October 3, 2012. (See Jesse’s Story)

It is the foundation’s mission to protect as many children as possible from the dangers of lightning. After months of careful research, the foundation has chosen WeatherBug to purchase their lightning detection systems from. The foundation believes that WeatherBug has the most accurate and reliable system on the market. WeatherBug also supplies weather information to the National Weather Service, NASA, The United States Air Force and hundreds of meteorologists and television stations across the U.S.

Chuck and Alda Watlington have started this foundation with their own personal money and without any outside donations. They set up the foundation with enough personal funds to purchase lightning detection systems for 40-schools. Then, the foundation will have to rely 100% on outside donations.

Most charities and foundations in the U.S. pay their board of directors (and themselves) generous salaries, solicitor fees, general expenses and advertising costs that eat up 90% to 95% of all donated money they receive. Leaving only %5 to 10% that actually gets applied to the intended cause.

For those reasons, 100% of all donations received goes towards the purchase of lightning detection systems. Chuck & Alda Watlington, as well as their Board of Directors are all volunteers. This foundation pays no salaries, no expense accounts and all other expenses are paid out of Chuck & Alda Watlington’s personal accounts.

Chuck & Alta Watlington are doing this for the following reasons. First, to honor and serve God with his mission, by donating to Christian Schools. Secondly, to protect as many children as possible from the dangers of lightning and to help prevent other parents from suffering the devastating loss of losing a child. Lastly, they are doing it to honor and remember their son Jesse, because this is what he would want them to do.