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| Cindy Cutler & Craig Haines |
Like the more than 120 other members of the Legacy Society for Hampton Roads, a group of future donors affiliated with the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, the Norfolk couple loves their home region and wants to see it flourish.
Cindy and Craig grew up in southeastern Virginia and made their careers here -- Cindy in mortgage lending and Craig in insurance. They are involved with many nonprofits, including Hampton Roads Business OutReach (HRBOR), WHRO, Hampton Arts Foundation, Tidewater Arts Outreach, Hampton Roads Chess Club and Toastmasters International. Both Craig and Cindy are passionate about promoting equality, arts, education and better opportunities for all area citizens. They have made sure their support of many good causes will continue long after they are gone.
The Norfolk couple drew up wills when they married more than 20 years ago. "We put in our favorite charities and as things changed we kept doing handwritten codicils to update them," Cindy says. She and Craig decided there must be a better way to make a difference that will last forever. They started watching where the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, their regional community foundation, awarded grants. "The charities we were fond of, you were giving grants to already. You were supporting causes we believe in," Cindy says.
Several years ago Cindy and Craig made plans for a permanent charitable fund at their community foundation that will activate after they pass away. Their charitable bequest to the Hampton Roads Community Foundation will forever provide grants to an array of nonprofits helping people in the region lead better lives. Their unrestricted fund will let them remain relevant no matter what issues their community tackles in future years.
"In any way we can give back to our community, we are happy to do so," says Craig.
"People are not good at planning for dying," says Cindy. "Baby boomers need to make plans or someone else will do it for them."
Photo by Glen McClure
(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. )
