Donor's Special Interest Grants Help Vulnerable Children

Norfolk car salesman Guy M. Winfrey was a hard worker whose challenging childhood gave him a passion for helping others. Guy dropped out of school at age 14 after his mother died so he could go to work to help support three younger sisters.

Guy Winfrey

Guy, a man who loved to read, sell cars and help others, passed away in 1996. Through the charitable bequest he left to the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, today he is giving hope to some of our region's most vulnerable children -- child-abuse victims, kids involved in court cases and those waiting in foster homes to be adopted.

Just last week the Sue Cook Winfrey Memorial Fund, established in 1997 through Guy's estate in memory of his first wife, provided $97,027 in grants for programs at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters Child Abuse Center, The Up Center and Voices for Kids CASA Program of Southeast Virginia.

 Click here to learn more about the Winfrey grants and other special-interest grants provided by donors' permanent field-of-interest funds.

We are grateful to generous donors like Guy Winfrey who have our region's best interests at heart and entrust us to do good works in their names forever.   



(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. ) 

Why Should Your Will Include a Contingency Beneficiary?

It's good that Virginia Beach attorney John Midgett of Midgett & Preti PC asked his client, the late Frederick G. Ward, a key question several years ago.

Frederick Ward

"If no one you have named is living, are there charities, causes or schools you would want to benefit?"

Ward was a retired Naval officer and widower living in a Virginia Beach, Virginia  retirement community. He thought carefully about that routine question his attorney always asks clients preparing wills, trusts or other estate plans.

Fred decided to include his community foundation as a contingent beneficiary should his daughter and grandson pre-decease him. Although it was unlikely it would come to fruition, he expressed a desire for a scholarship for Virginia Beach students with preferences for Princess Anne High School graduates or people studying English in college.

It's sad that a few months before Fred passed away in 2011 at age 92, his only child Sharon died. Her only son Roger had passed away before her in an accident.

Gertrude "Betty" Ward

Because of Fred's contingency plans, the Gertrude Ward Scholarship Fund at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation will be helping its first students attend college in the coming year. Gertrude, who was nicknamed Betty, had taught at Princess Anne High. Fred's idea was to use his estate to  honor his wife's memory and her years of teaching. Since no relative outlived him, Fred's wishes were carried out by his executor Mavis McKenley of AMG National Trust Bank in Virginia Beach.

What a gift it is that in finalizing Fred's estate Mavis found a wonderful World War II era scrapbook documenting his and his wife's lives. This special book of memories includes the photos of Fred and Betty you see above.

On December 1 we will begin taking applications for the new Ward Scholarship and the more than 70 other scholarship funds we administer at the community foundation. Each permanent fund was started by a generous donor like Fred Ward -- people interested in education and the promise it holds for people to lead better lives. Click here to learn more about Hampton Roads Community Foundation scholarships.


(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )

How Can a $1,000 Grant Make a Big Difference?

Why do these students look so happy and eager to learn? Maybe it is because they are in their favorite spot -- the garden at their school. Since last year Seatack Elementary: An Achievable Dream Academy in Virginia Beach, Virginia has offered hands-on learning about plants, the environment and healthy eating.

Last year Seatack's gifted resource teacher Marie Culver pioneered an organic community garden at the Title 1 school where 90 percent of its 388 students receive free or reduced-price lunches because they live in lower-income families. 

Recently a $1,000 grant from the Future Leadership Partners, a Hampton Roads Community Foundation giving group, helped expand the program for this school year. The grant went to the Virginia Beach Education Foundation to support Seatack's garden. The education foundation provided funding last year to seed the garden.

"The new grant gives us money for another raised bed for each grade level," Culver says. "We will have more space and can grow a greater variety of plants." The grant will also pay for compost pails, blueberry bushes and other garden supplies.

Culver reports that last year, students learned a lot from the melons, radishes, basil, beans, peppers, tomatoes and other food they grew.
Gardening enhanced their science and environmental studies and taught children discipline, teamwork and patience.

Many Seatack students live in areas too dangerous for them to play outside. Many have little connection to nature. The garden has helped them enjoy working in the dirt, seeing seedlings grow, watering and weeding their gardens, and harvesting and eating the bounty.

Seatack's young gardeners come from all grade levels and get to witness first-hand the life cycle of plants they nurture. Science classes often take place in the garden, and students have treated their parents to healthful salads made with produce they grew, picked and turned into delicious dishes.

A group of high-energy Seatack fifth-grade boys (pictured below) work in the garden each morning before school as part of the Garden Breakfast Club. They enter class focused and ready to learn, Culver reports.

"The boys say the favorite part of their day is being in the garden because it is so peaceful," Culver says.

Virginia Beach Education Foundation was among 21 nonprofits receiving a total of $216,000 in grants this year from two Hampton Roads Community Foundation giving groups -- the Community Leadership Partners and the Future Leadership Partners. Click here for details.  

Photos courtesy of Marie Culver and the Virginia Beach Education Foundation

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )

Slover Library: World of Wonders Coming Soon

Over the decades Hampton Roads Community Foundation donors have helped build some impressive and needed nonprofit facilities throughout southeastern Virginia. We are excited that $685,000 in donor grants are helping build the Colonel Samuel L. Slover Memorial Library, which will open in downtown Norfolk, Virginia in January 2015. It is destined to be a gathering place for book and information lovers of all ages and interests.

The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is honored to administer $2.7 million Virginian-Pilot Fund, which was created in 2010 to support future technology needs of the new library. When it opens, the Slover Library likely will be the country's most technologically-advanced library. But, it will take constant attention and upgrades to keep it in the lead.  

This altdaily.com piece entitled Ten Reasons You Are Going to Love the Slover Memorial Library gives a good glimpse into what wonders await us in January when the Slover Library opens. Until then you can get a sneak peek at the new library's technology at a Slover Library preview center open in downtown Norfolk at 230 E. Main Street on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.



Norfolk's Slover Library will be a high-tech gathering place for people of all ages.

Scholarship Will Forever Remember a Special Teacher

In August 2013 Virginia lost an amazing educator -- Jennifer Mooney Greene. She  was a

Jennifer Mooney Greene

33-year-old English teacher at Green Run High School in Virginia Beach who loved her work but passed away all too soon from an illness.

As Jen's sister, brother and parents planned her memorial service the Hampton Roads Community Foundation staff was honored to help them find a way for Jen to forever make an impact on the lives of students. They chose to create a permanent scholarship fund at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation for students in the Achievement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program. Jen founded AVID at Green Run to help students prepare to be among the first in their families to go to college. Memorial gifts from family, friends and colleagues brought Jen's endowed fund to $27,777 by the end of December 2013.

Diamond Lee (center) celebrates her scholarship
this spring with Susanne and Kevin Mooney.

In the spring of 2014 Jen's parents presented the first Jennifer Mooney Greene Scholarship to Diamond Lee as part of the inspiration and healing that can come through philanthropy.

Diamond, the first Jennifer Mooney Greene Scholar, was Green Run's 2014 salutatorian and Student Council Association presidentShe discovered AVID in seventh grade and says "it has been the best thing I ever did in school. AVID opened so many doors for me."

Diamond is the first in a never-ending line of scholarship recipients who will carry on Jen's legacy of learning. She is among more than 390 students attending college in 2014-15 with help $1.1 million-plus in Hampton Roads Community Foundation scholarships. Each scholarship fund was started by donors to honor a special person.

People often ask why donors should consider connecting with a community foundation. There are many reasons, but one of the best is that  endowed funds forever provide grants or scholarships in the names of loved ones to help other people lead better lives.

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )

$1.1+ Million in Scholarships Send Students to College

Kellam High School graduate Cole Neubert of Virginia Beach headed west on

Cole Neubert takes a break from his summer construction job at Kellam High to pose by his scholarship's namesake, Judge Floyd Kellam.

Tuesday for his new life as a freshman at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. He is among more than 390 students attending college this year with help from more than $1.1 million in scholarships provided by Hampton Roads Community Foundation

donors. This is the largest amount of scholarships awarded in a single year during the 64-year history of the community foundation.

Cole's scholarship is provided by the generosity of sisters Anne Kellam and Becky Kellam Chalmers of Virginia Beach. In 2013 they started the Judge Floyd E. and Annie B. Kellam Scholarship Fund in memory of their parents. The sisters created the permanent scholarship fund to help celebrate the opening of the new Floyd E. Kellam High School in Virginia Beach named for their dad, who passed away in 1958.

"This is a nice way to honor our father and mother who particularly liked education. Scholarships are so lasting," says Becky Chalmers.

The sisters had students like Cole in mind when they endowed scholarships for Kellam High graduates interested in careers related to math, science or business. Cole, Kellam's 2014 salutatorian, is among the first four Kellam Scholars and plans to become a mechanical or structural engineer and start his own firm.

He got hands-on experience in that area this summer as an intern with S.B. Ballard Construction Company, which built Kellam High. On Monday, the day before leaving for Tech, Cole was in his hard hat helping the company finish a few "punch list" details at Kellam High when he paused to have his photo snapped standing by a portrait of Floyd Kellam. Cole plans to work with Ballard Construction again over winter break and next summer.

Cole is happy to be a Kellam Scholar and to know his scholarship is renewable for up to four years of study. At Tech he is looking forward to "having new experiences and learning about engineering."

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )

St. Mary's Home Girl Scout Enjoy a Fun 'Staycation'

St. Mary's Scouts and troop leaders have their photo made.
Watch their video to see more of their fine day in Virginia Beach.

A summer day at a seaside resort is something most people take for granted. But not the members of Girl Scout Troop #5067. On a beautiful day recently, they enjoyed some great fun being tourists in nearby Virginia Beach.  

The troop's members are all girls with disabilities who live at St. Mary's Home in Norfolk, one of more than 150 nonprofit organizations receiving support from Hampton Roads Community Foundation donors during the past year.

During their "staycation," St. Mary's Scouts, their troop leader and her assistants had lots of adventures dreamed up with help from the Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The girls dressed up in fancy costumes for pictures at Flashback Old-time Photo, touched stingrays at the Virginia Aquarium, dined at Rockafeller's Restaurant, shopped along the boardwalk, enjoyed Dough Boys California Pizza, rested at a Barclay Towers suit and were dazzled by circus performers and fireworks at night along the boardwalk.

This short video created by St. Mary's summer intern Katie McCarthy of Chesapeake, a James Madison University senior, captures the magic of fun-filled day. Enjoy!

Former Scholarship Recipient Honors Teammates in a Lasting Way That Will Help Others Forever

When two of Matthew Elliott's Maury High School fellow swim team members died far too young, he decided to find a way to honor them.  

In 2014 he started the Dean-Callahan Scholarship Fund to pay tribute to his friends Carlton

Carlton Dean was a great swimmer.

Dean and Joey Callahan of Norfolk, Virginia, who passed away in 2012 and 2013.

"Both were personable people and good leaders who made others better," says Matt, who works for the Hampton Roads Sanitation District and is studying engineering at Old Dominion University. Matt, 25, was a Hampton Roads Community Foundation scholarship recipient during his four years of undergraduate study at Virginia Military Institute. He was helped  for four years at VMI by a Col. J. Addison Hagan Memorial Scholarship. 

Joey Callahan excelled at volleyball
& swimming

Hagan's friends started the scholarship him in 1980 at the community foundation after he passed away. Matt's goal is to follow in the footsteps of Hagan's friends. His goal is to raise $25,000 to create a permanent scholarship fund at the community foundation in memory of Carlton and Joey. 

The scholarship would be for Norfolk Public School athletes going on to college. Matt has arranged for donations to go to The Maury Foundation with 20 percent of proceeds benefiting the nonprofit that helps improve life for Maury High students. The rest of donations would be earmarked for a new scholarship fund at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. Once $25,000 is reached, funds would transfer to the community foundation to start the permanent scholarship.

A kickoff event for the new Dean-Callahan Scholarship Fund will be held Friday, August 15, at the Mallory Country Club in Norfolk starting at 4 p.m. It will involve volleyball matches,swimming competitions, dinner and an auction. Details are posted to deancallahan.com.

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )

Batten Gift Brings Spanish Program to Eastern Virginia Medical School

Since 2003 the Batten Educational Achievement Fund of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation has found a variety of ways to improve educational opportunities in southeastern Virginia.

The latest Batten grant in 2014 provides $450,000 to help Eastern Virginia Medical School

Frank & Jane Batten support education.

in Norfolk, Virginia make the school a regional source of certification in medical Spanish. The goal is to address language barriers in order to improve healthcare for Spanish-speaking populations.

Virginia's 92  percent Hispanic growth rate in the past 10 years prompted EVMS to add a language curriculum and testing recognized by the National Institutes of Health. The program will be part of EVMS' M. Foscue Brock Institute for Community and Global Health.

Funding comes from a donor-advised fund started in 2003 with a $20.5 million gift to the community foundation by the late philanthropist Frank Batten and his wife Jane of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Since then the Batten Fund has provided more than $21.8 million in grants to organizations working to improve educational opportunities primarily in Hampton Roads. Recipients include nonprofits focused on improving early education, teaching people to nurture their environment and bringing history alive for more students as well as those providing higher-education opportunities.

 

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )

Change Your World Through Your Community Foundation

It takes a really long ride to absorb the full "elevator speech" of someone affiliated with a community foundation.

Scholarships.
Grants to nonprofits. 
Community leadership initiatives.
Generous donors.

These are the stock and trade of the more than 750 community foundations in North America whose donors come from all walks of life to do good work forever in their home regions.

At the Hampton Roads Community Foundation our annual report is one of our main ways to convey the amazing things that happen when philanthropy, community need and good ideas intersect.

With that in mind, enjoy reading Change Your World -- our latest annual report. It was published in July 2014. 

Featured on the cover are two staff members from The Endependence Center in Norfolk, Virginia -- Sylvester Askins (left) and Stephen Johnson (center). Their center received a two-year community foundation grant for a program to help people with disabilities find jobs. Priscilla Barnes (right) is one of the first clients to benefit from the expanded jobs program.

 

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )

 

How Did Bobby Hill Nearly Double Rescue Squad Volunteers?

If you've ever met Bobby Hill of Virginia Beach, Virginia then you likely have heard him exclaim, "I have the best job in the world because I get to save lives every day."

Bobby is the Virginia Beach Rescue Squad Foundation's recruitment coordinator. He has been in that position since 2009 when he retired as chief magistrate in Virginia Beach. Although Hill had been a long-time rescue squad volunteer, he knew he needed more skills to successfully recruit for Virginia Beach's 10 all-volunteer rescue squads.

Bobby Hill loves his work.
 (photo by Glen McClure)

Bobby got the training he needed at the Academy for Nonprofit Excellence, which was started in 2005 by the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. The academy operates in partnership with Tidewater Community College. It offers one- and two-day courses for nonprofit staff and board members in southeastern Virginia at a reasonable cost -- $60 and $85 each.

Since 2005 more than 1,140 people from nearly 450 different nonprofits have taken academy courses. And, more than 80 of them, including Bobby Hill, have earned Certificates in Nonprofit Management. Bobby took 19 classes in everyting from fundraising to social media and personnel management and quickly put his new skills to work. He continues to take classes today to keep his skills fresh and connect with other nonprofit people.

So, what happened at the rescue squads since Hill began working and taking classes?

The number of volunteers has nearly doubled, which is important since Virginia Beach is the largest city in the country to rely on an all-volunteer network of emergency health providers.  The Hampton Roads Community Foundation has put more than $1 million in grants from its unrestricted funds into the academy. The goal is to help area nonprofits to do their best work by investing in the people who make it happen.

Learn more about the nonprofit academy at academyfornonprofitexcellence.org, which recently announced its fall 2014 class schedule.

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )

Engineering Student Follows Benefactor's Path

Virginia Tech senior Shae O'Hara of Virginia Beach, Virginia never met the late Wilfred G.
Semple.

But he is having a great influence on her life because he left a bequest to the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, which is providing Shae a scholarship for the second year. She also is spending this summer interning at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth,

Shae O'Hara
 (photo by Glen McClure)

Virginia for the second time.

It's a great coincidence that this is the same shipyard where Wilfred, who died in 1966 at age 80, spent his career as an engineer.

Shae, a senior industrial and systems engineering major, is preparing to follow in the footsteps of Wilfred G. Semple, whose scholarship is for upper-level students from Hampton Roads studying engineering, physics or math.

We can only imagine how happy Wilfred would be today to know that Shae is working at the same shipyard where he spent his career. And, even better, she has been offered a job after graduation next May that she is planning to accept.

"College expenses can be a considerable financial burden for a family, especially when its chief bread winner is a public school teacher," says O'Hara, whose brother also is in college.

Since 1991, when the Semple Scholarship started, 34 students have been helped by $155,000 in scholarships. Semple's original charitable bequest was $120,713, but the power of endowment has made his fund grow over time to a value of $277,627 while helping students like Shae. This fall there will be four Semple Scholars in college, including Shae.

It is donors like Wilfred Semple who make all the difference for students with dreams of great careers.

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )

Community Foundation Grants of All Sizes Matter

Hampton Roads Community Foundation grants don't always have to be huge to make a big impact. Here is just one example:

Our office enjoyed a visit this week from a group of southeastern Virginia citizens who participate in a Cerebral Palsy of Virginia adult day program. The enthusiastic visitors included the Cerebral Palsy staff. Everyone was on a thank-you mission before enjoying an afternoon of bowling.

They stopped by our Norfolk, Virginia office to surprise us with a lovely plant in a pot they had decorated. The reason? They just wanted to say thank you for a $2,100 grant from The Laura Turner Fund, which our community foundation administers. The grant paid for adjustable tables to make it easier for participants to work on projects at a height that is best for them. The tables are used in both the day program and summer camp that will be starting soon.

We are delighted the grant is helpful and that we could award it in the name of Laura Turner. This field-of-interest fund was started in 1997 by the Louise W. Eggleston Center (now Eggleston Services).


Cerebral Palsy of Virginia visitors get to know some of our foundation staff members.

 

$1.6 Million Gift Highlighted in Newsletter

Click here to read the newsletter.

Philanthropist Joshua P. Darden Jr., who died in January 2014, left a $1.6 million bequest to the Hampton Roads Community Foundation.

The Virginia Beach resident's  parting gift was to donate his Individual Retirement Account to create an unrestricted fund -- the kind he championed as a member of the community foundation's board for 27 years/

Read more in Good Tidings, the spring 2014 newsletter of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation.

Charles Syer Will Benefit His Community Forever

Charles Syer IV was a newly retired banker in 1996 when he accomplished two goals in life at age 65:

• Becoming a "free agent" not tied down by home ownership.
• Doing something charitable to benefit his community forever.

He accomplished both by connecting with the Hampton Roads Community Foundation.

Charles Syer

Charles, who for 30 years had managed foundation investments for the trust department at what is now Suntrust Bank, donated his Norfolk, Virginia condominium to the community foundation. The proceeds from its sale created the Charles Syer Fund. This unrestricted fund has provided grants to numerous nonprofit organizations in southeastern Virginia since 1996. Syer also arranged for a future bequest to the community foundation expand his charitable fund.

Charles, who lived in a Virginia Beach retirement community after selling his condominium, died on May 6, 2014 at age 82. His family designated the Charles Syer Fund of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation to receive memorial gifts.

Charles was a Portsmouth, Virginia native who lived most of his life in Norfolk after graduating from Princeton University and Harvard University. He was an Army veteran who enjoyed reading and the arts. For him an unrestricted fund at a community foundation in his home region made good sense.

"I liked the idea that the foundation is a long-term, ongoing and for the whole general area," he said. "As time goes by, organizations that are worthy during one period may change. With the foundation there is flexibility. The organization is steered by a group of local people who have demonstrated they are responsible and capable of using money intelligently."

Donations to the Charles Syer Fund will help an array of nonprofits in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. To make a charitable gift please:

• Click here to donate online. Please specify that your gift is in memory of Charles Syer.
• Mail a check to Hampton Roads Community Foundation, 101 W. Main Street, Suite 4500, Norfolk, VA 23510. Please designate your gift in memory of Charles Syer.

Click here to view Charles Syer's obituary.

Donors Honor Parents With Dazzling Chrysler Chandelier

The Valones admire the sculpture with artist Luke Jerram (right)

Dr. James and Christiane Valone of Norfolk found a special way to honor their parents and give a gift their whole community can enjoy. When the Chrysler Museum of Art reopens on May 10 a spectacular part of it will be the 17-foot kinetic chandelier dangling down the museum's spiral staircase. Click here to watch a 59-second video created by the artist.

It is typical to honor people with "things cast in bronze or engraved in granite," Jim Valone says. But he and Christiane went a modern route with a piece of functional art made from glass, wire and microchips. A grant from the Valones' donor-advised fund at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation paid for the chandelier whose clear orbs have insides that spin when exposed to light. If you pause at the stairwell and are quiet, your ears will be treated to a gentle fluttering sound emitted by the moving parts. Renowned British artist Luke Jerram created what he calls The Chrysler Chandelier from 330 glass radiometers. Tiny microchips hang next to each globe and produce enough infrared energy to make the spindles and vanes inside the glass orbs rotate.

"This is the first chandelier I've made that is powered by Infra red LEDS rather than sunlight," Jerram says. "What's interesting is that you can see the (invisible to the naked eye infrared light) only when you view the chandelier through your mobile phone."

 William Hennessey, Chrysler Museum executive director, remembers being fascinated when the sun made a radiometer on his window sill whir when he was a boy. "Radiometers have a great gee whiz factor," he says.

"The chandelier was commissioned for this very spot," Hennessey says. "We had a leading artist create something that will delight people from ages 5 to 85."

After nearly a year of work the 66-pound chandelier, which requires no electricity, was installed the other week. It bridges the museum's new upstairs modern art gallery with the ground floor where kids and families gather. Both the Chrysler's children's gallery and the

hands-on Hampton Roads Community Foundation Education Center are at the bottom of the winding staircase.

Christiane Valone is a long-time docent at the Chrysler Museum, which has been closed for more than a year for major renovations. She and her husband both love art and the Chrysler. The grant they recommended through their Hampton Roads Community Foundation fund honors all four of their parents who taught them to appreciate art and philanthropy: Denise Gabrielle Jacot des Combes and Leslie Ellis, who live in Great Britain, and Ethel Morrison Fielder of Raleigh and the late James Valone.

The Valones believe it is important for all young people to come face to face with art and develop a fascination with it. They look forward to the spinning chandelier encouraging families and young people to come and enjoy the Chrysler. Learn more from the Chrysler Museum of Art about the chandelier.
Read the April 10 Virginian-Pilot story by Teresa Annas about the chandelier.
Watch a 59-second video created by artist Luke Jerram and see his creation in action.

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )
 

Photo by Gary Marshall courtesy of the Chrysler Museum of Art