What Is Our Foundation's Greatest Success Story?

What is the Hampton Roads Community Foundation's biggest success story,  a new board

Coley Stone at Granby High, his alma mater.

member asked the other day. There are lots of great stories we could share related to big community initiatives incubated here and nonprofits whose clients and audiences benefit from our grants.

But, perhaps our best successes revolve around the 4,000-plus individuals helped by college scholarships made possible by our donors since 1951.

Just the other day we spotted a Facebook post from our former scholarship recipient Coley Stone. Today Coley works in Rotterdam, The Netherlands as a customer care and logistics specialists for Galderama, a global dermatology company. He is fluent in English, French and Dutch and also can converse comfortably with clients in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Mandarin Chinese.

Robert & Ettie Cunningham -- Coley's benefactors

Not bad for someone who in 1998 was expelled from his Norfolk middle school and never took any foreign language classes until college. 

A second chance came Coley's way after attending a Norfolk alternative school. He returned to middle school and went on to graduate on time in 2001 from Norfolk's Granby High School where he was elected prom king. In high school he overcame family issues, held down a restaurant job to support himself, lived in a group home and was homeless his senior year before moving in with the school office manager and her family. His ACCESS College Foundation advisor helped him prepare for college and find the resources to pay for it.

Coley went to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond with help from our J. Robert and Ettie Fearing Cunningham Memorial Scholarship and a Lincoln-Lane Foundation scholarship. During the four years Coley was on scholarship at college he discovered his gift for languages and excelled. In 2006 he was selected to carry the processional banner for VCU students at graduation. 

Armed with his degree in French and history and an adventuresome spirit Coley  headed to Europe after college graduation. He has lived and worked in The Netherlands since 2007. A post on Coley's Facebook page this week featured his 1998 report card from a Norfolk alternative school he attended in eighth grade. The comments section recommended his reinstatement in school and mentioned his "seriousness of purpose."

Coley's 2015 Facebook comment of "God knows I've come a long way" led us to tell him how proud his community foundation family is of him.

His reply:  "And you and the foundation made it all happen. For that I am forever grateful." 

We think the Cunninghams, a Norfolk couple who died decades ago, would be proud of Coley and the hundreds of other students their endowed scholarship at the community foundation has helped have better lives. Ettie Cunningham's 1992 estate gift created the permanent scholarship fund for Norfolk students or those from Hampton Roads who want to be teachers. There are more than 15 Cunningham Scholars in college right now and an endless procession of them will follow in years to come.

As Coley Stone says: "Despite the obstacles, I believe that everyone can achieve their goals if they keep a positive attitude and have support from the community. It has changed my life and I'll never forget."


 (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 $210 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. )

Veteran's Foresight Leads to New Scholarship Fund

Gertrude "Betty" Ward taught English at Princess Anne High School in Virginia Beach for 19

Fred & Betty Ward in 1941

years. 

Although she died in 1996, Betty is helping send in the fall of 2015 two Virginia Beach Public School new graduates to follow in her footsteps.

The new Gertrude Ward Scholarship Fund at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation is thanks to Betty's husband Fred's foresight. A few years ago he was crafting a will with his attorney John Midgett of Midgett Preti Alperin PC of Virginia Beach. 

John asked Fred the question he asks all clients making wills: "If no one you have named is living, are there charities, causes or schools you would want to benefit?"

At the time the former World War II  sailor living in a Virginia Beach retirement center had a daughter and grandson to name as beneficiaries. But, Fred heeded his attorney's advice and put the community foundation in as a contingent beneficiary to administer an endowed scholarship in his late wife's name for Virginia Beach students. He expressed a preference for Princess Anne High graduates or Virginia Beach students majoring in English never expecting the scholarship to be activated.

Sarah Burk

Daja Askew

It is sad to think that Fred's only daughter and grandchild passed away before he did in 2011 at age 92. But it is satisfying to know that this fall Sarah Burk, a Princess Anne high graduate, will be studying English at the University of North Carolina and Daja Askew, a Bayside High School graduate will be studying English at Virginia Tech. 

Sarah says: "UNC has some of the best options to give me a diverse education in preparation to enter the publishing industry, so I was extremely glad to receive this scholarship to help me attend."

Daja says: "This scholarship has allowed me the opportunity to attend my dream school and pursue a degree in English. With my English degree, I plan on pursuing the education track and hope to become a high school English teacher in the future."

We can only imagine how pleased Fred and Betty Ward would be to know they are helping shape Sarah and Daja's futures along with the many other Ward Scholars who will follow them.

Warner Fund Celebrates Submarine Commissioning

The Warners with the sub. (L. Todd Spencer photo for The Virginian-Pilot)

 

 

 

 

August 1, 2015 was a thrilling day for retired U.S. Senator John Warner. That was when the Navy commissioned in Norfolk, Virginia the country's newest submarine -- the USS John Warner. 

Warner and his wife Jeanne, the ship's sponsor, enjoyed days of official events in Norfolk related to the commissioning of the submarine that was built in Newport News, Virginia.

Although all the ceremonies are over, the Alexandria couple maintains strong ties to the new submarine and its Norfolk-based crew through the new $100,000 Warner Family Fund they and other family members started at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation.

The new designated fund will "provide for modest awards to sailors recognized publicly for outstanding achievements each year," says Warner, who was a Navy petty officer in World War II, a Marine in the Korean War and Secretary of the Navy before serving in the senate for 30 years. In addition to supporting meritorious service awards, the Warner Fund will help the submarine's morale, welfare and recreation programs over the next 35 years, which is the expected life of the sub. 

The Warners were introduced to the community foundation by Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim about a month before the commissioning. "The Warners wanted to make sure funds would be available for the life of the submarine," Fraim says. "I suggested the community foundation because of the great work it does and that it could manage the money and comply with their wishes."

"Our family has a deep sense of humility and gratitude to our nation ... and for the sailors and the shipyard workers," Warner says. He also appreciates President George W. Bush and his administration for honoring him upon his 2009 retirement from the senate by naming the next submarine to be constructed for him. 

The USS John Warner, the most technologically advanced submarine in the fleet, is the first of 12 Virginia-class subs to be named for a person. The others are all named for states.

(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 $210 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. )