Fairhope resident and author Beverly Dillon Smith presented a $17,000 check to the Baldwin Family Village on Friday, April 24, following the success of her book featuring photographs of Fairhope's picturesque sunsets.

Smith is known as a patron of the arts in the Fairhope community due to her involvement with the Fairhope Film Festival and the Wisteria Garden Club, among others. For years, Smith and her friends have witnessed the views from her home on Mobile Bay in Fairhope, where she has a front-row seat to the bay's stunning sunsets. She has put together a compilation of photos she has taken from the view of her home and put them together in a coffee table book, "Amazing Grace at Sunset."

The book's title is a reference to the hymn "Amazing Grace," which Smith plays whenever she has guests over, specifically the Judy Collins version of the song, which she times to the sunset.

"I've seen sunsets all over the world," Smith said. "I've never seen them like they are on Mobile Bay."

Judy Culbreth, who Smith described as her cheerleader when putting together the book, said "Amazing Grace at Sunset" became so popular that people have bought boxes containing the book, saying Smith really set her mind to putting it together.

Since first conceiving the book, Smith vowed to donate all the proceeds to charity, which ended up being the Baldwin Family Village, an organization she is deeply passionate about.

Baldwin Family Village, established in 2023, is a transitional housing program operated by the Dumas Wesley Community Center. It is located in Fairhope and provides housing stability to over 150 women and children experiencing homelessness. Director Hillary Williams said all the funds received by Smith will go towards case management, security, and emergency support for the Baldwin Family Village.

"To keep this place running and afloat, we literally depend on donors like (Smith)," Williams said about Smith's donation. "What this does doesn't only just impact this building, this is somebody's life. This is generational poverty ending and things like that."